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ACI MENA, Sep 23, 2024 / 15:56 pm (CNA).

Christians in southwestern Arabia, and specifically in Aden, a port city located in Yemen, have a deeply-rooted history dating back to the fourth century. Despite persecution over the centuries, the Christian faith continued to flourish and expand, becoming the most widespread religion in Aden before the advent of Islam. But with the rise of extremist religious thought, the Christian minority there has experienced hardship. 

Badr, a Yemeni Catholic woman born in the 1980s and living in Aden, spoke recently about the plight of Christians there with ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner.

Wishing to remain anonymous, she explained: "I didn't realize that we, as Christians, were a minority until I reached middle school. There, I experienced harsh challenges related to my faith and to the loss of our rights."

She continued: "Although some small churches became nationalized in the 1970s, Christians maintained the right to education in schools and employment in government jobs before 1994. Women enjoyed the freedom to dress [as they wish], and on the religious level, we were allowed to pray inside churches that were tax-free like mosques. The state also provided visas and residency status for foreign priests. No one pressured us to change our religion."

However, Badr said all of that changed when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power. 

"We were forced to wear the hijab," she told ACI Mena. "The government officially prohibited us from celebrating midnight Mass on Christmas and New Year's Eve. Christians accepted the situation and did not raise their voices. Some emigrated, others changed their religion, fearing to lose their homes and jobs. Many practiced their faith behind closed doors at a time when the Church did not support young people or work on strengthening families."

She continued: "After 1994, the authorities tried to make Yemen an Islamic state. They wiped out our identity as Christians and refused to write 'Christian' on documents. Christians had to write either 'Muslim' or leave a blank space. They accused us of being 'remnants of British colonialism' and said that 'the United States funds us.' Teachers pressured me to change my religion and forced me to read the Quran daily. When I got full marks in Islamic education, they would reduce my grades, because they told me 'a Christian couldn't be equal to a Muslim.'" 

Badr said the most critical period for Christians in Aden began with the outbreak of the 2015 war and the subsequent closure of churches. 

"After being banned from praying, we started praying secretly in the convent of the nuns," she said. "Unfortunately, all the nuns were later killed. The priest was kidnapped. The churches were stolen, and some were vandalized."

"In 2018, the authorities refused to renew our passports unless we wrote the word 'Islam' in the religion section of the application form, as we were told: 'There are no Christians in Yemen.'" 

Badr noted that there has been a recent improvement in the situation of Christians: They have been recognized again as citizens. She called on the Catholic Church to seek to restore its presence in Aden, to send priests there, and to reopen the churches that remain closed to this day.

This story was first published by ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 23, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Last week, the first screening in the U.S. of the BBC documentary "Better Off Dead?" took place in the United States Congress.

Produced by British actress and renowned disability rights advocate Liz Carr, the film shows from a secular perspective how assisted-suicide laws around the world threaten the lives of individuals with disabilities.  

Carr, who is not religious, told CNA that for many people, the absence of nonreligious arguments against assisted suicide has disadvantaged the cause.

"I think that for too long, opposition to assisted suicide has been marginalized, sidelined as being pretty much religious, only religious. And therefore, it's been seen as not valid by some people," she said, "depending on the perspective." 

Carr makes the case that assisted suicide "becomes an ultimate discrimination against certain groups of people" who may not have a voice.

"If you're a disabled person," she said, "often if you come under these laws, then what happens is you pretty much fast-track to encouragement, to be assisted, to end your life rather than receiving suicide prevention."

Ultimately, she argued, assisted-suicide laws suggest "that some lives are more important than others," an idea that stems from the commonly held position that having a disability is "a fate worse than death." 

The central point of 'Better Off Dead?'

Carr explained to CNA that the central point of the documentary "Better Off Dead?" is to counteract this position, showing that life has value regardless of whether an individual has full functional control of his or her body.

Carr since age 7 has been disabled due to arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a rare genetic condition affecting joints and muscles, and has used a wheelchair since age 14. As a young girl, she recalled, the absence of imagery of disabled people living valuable lives had at times led her to wonder whether nonexistence was better than existence for a disabled person.

"The dominant ideas [regarding the issue] are that in order to be a valuable human being, you should be able to walk and do basic tasks for yourself," she said. "Well then when I couldn't do those things, when I never saw people like me in the media doing anything other than being cared for and living in care homes, of course I would want to die."

"To imagine that, and then to see now, you know, I'm sitting on a beautiful terrace in Washington, D.C.," she said, continuing: "There is no way that when I was 12, I would imagine 40 years later at 52 what my life would be like."

"How many lives did we lose because people feel hopeless?" she speculated. "And what could we have done to have alleviated that suffering and that hopelessness?" 

In comments to CNA after the screening, co-sponsored by the National Council on Disability, the Patients Rights Action Fund, and Not Dead Yet, Matt Vallière of the Patients Rights Action Fund expressed appreciation for Carr's "phenomenal documentary" and optimism regarding the current climate for stopping and reversing assisted-suicide laws in the U.S.

"With Democratic Gov. [John] Carney vetoing the assisted-suicide bill in Delaware," Vallière stated, "we are poised as a movement to see three years in a row of no new states legalizing assisted suicide and seeing increasing bipartisan opposition to these dangerous and discriminatory public policies."

"A myriad of stories of abuse and harms [are] coming out of legal jurisdictions, here in the states, just north in Canada, and abroad, as well as a major federal lawsuit levied against the state of California by progressive disability-rights groups," Vallière pointed out, noting that legislators on both sides of the aisle have begun "having second thoughts about these insidious laws." 

Bipartisan resolution

Testifying to that bipartisan sentiment, Reps. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, and Lou Correa, D-California, also spoke at the screening.

The two representatives introduced a resolution in May "expressing the sense of the Congress that assisted suicide (sometimes referred to using other terms) puts everyone, including those most vulnerable, at risk of deadly harm."

The two lauded Carr for her transformative activism, with Wenstrup, who is a physician, declaring that "to support this case is a no-brainer."

"Until that last breath is taken, human life has value," Wenstrup emphasized.

The Ohio congressman told the story of his father's passing, noting that in his final days, his dad began to recite the Lord's Prayer. He speculated that had his father's death been expedited, this spiritual moment may not have occurred.

"We gotta respect life," he concluded.

Correa, a Catholic, agreed, stating his belief in the "moral responsibility" of legislators to facilitate heightened access to resources such as palliative care for those with terminal illnesses rather than opening the door to medically-assisted death.

Speaking with CNA after the event, Carr expressed her gratitude to the representatives for attending and showing their support, saying "it gave real importance" to the issue. 

"These appearances matter," she said. "It matters that representatives, you know, whichever country we're in, that are our lawmakers and politicians, that they engage with these issues."

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National Catholic Register, Sep 23, 2024 / 11:15 am (CNA).

One of the most popular Catholic saints of the 20th century, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, commonly known as Padre Pio, was a Capuchin Franciscan friar, priest, and mystic. His tomb can be found in the Sanctuary of St. Mary Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. 

Padre Pio is known for his deep wisdom about prayer and peace, his stigmata, miraculous reports of his bilocation, being physically attacked by the devil, and mastering the spiritual life.

As the Church celebrates his feast day on Sept. 23, here's a look at 13 facts about St. Pio's life and faith.

1. Padre Pio was only 5 years old when he expressed a strong desire to serve God.

Born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy, he served as an altar boy at his local parish. At the early age of 5, he consecrated himself to Jesus. By the age of 10, his family looked to see how he could become a Capuchin friar.

2. Padre Pio was only 15 when he entered the Capuchin Friars Minor as a novice. 

Being a young teenager, Francesco was given the name Pio or Pius when he entered as a novice. He professed his solemn vows three years later. No stranger to suffering amid frail health throughout much of his studies, he was ordained a priest in 1910. He ascended the Gargano mountains to the rural friary outside of San Giovanni Rotondo in 1916. He remained there for more than 50 years, until his death on Sept. 23, 1968.

3. St. Pio received the visible wounds of Christ known as the stigmata, just like St. Francis of Assisi.

On Sept. 20, 1918, Padre Pio received the stigmata while praying in a church. The wounds remained visible on his body for the rest of his life. The wounds were on his hands, feet, and side, corresponding to the wounds suffered by Jesus during his crucifixion. 

4. The blood from his stigmata smelled of floral perfume. 

Referred to as the "odor of sanctity," the blood that came from Padre Pio's wounds is said to have smelled like perfume or as having a floral aroma. The trait has also been exhibited by other saints who manifested stigmata markings.

5. Padre Pio heard confessions 12 to 15 hours a day.

While listening to confessions, the saint would smell flowers as sins were confessed. Some penitents waited two weeks just to visit him in the confessionial. Padre Pio could also read the hearts of penitents, reminding them of sins that were forgotten or omitted.

The saint once said: "Confession is the soul's bath. You must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession more than a week. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust; return after a week, and you will see that it needs dusting again!"

6. Padre Pio suffered attacks from the devil on a consistent basis. 

From a young age, Padre Pio was blessed with heavenly visions, but he also experienced spiritual warfare, including attacks of the devil.

In a book written by Father Gabriele Amorth on Padre Pio, the famous exorcist of Rome said: "The great and constant struggle in the life of the saint was against the enemies of God and souls, those demons who sought to capture his soul."

Amorth continued: "The devil appeared to him under many different forms: as a big black cat, wild and threatening, or as a repulsive animal, in the clear intention to frighten him; under the appearance of naked and provocative young girls who danced obscene dances, obviously to test the chastity of the young priest. However, the worst was when the devil took on the appearance of his spiritual director, or posed as Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or St. Francis."

7. He had the gift of bilocation, meaning that he could be in more than one place at a time.

Multiple eyewitness accounts attest to the ability of Padre Pio to be in multiple places at once. Fellow friars remember seeing him in prayer outside when they knew he was still in his room. Some accounts come from others who claim to have seen him on different continents all over the world. 

As to how Padre Pio experienced such feats, the closest he ever came to an explanation of bilocation was to say that it occurred "by an extension of his personality."

8. A sighting of a "flying friar" kept war planes from bombing Padre Pio's town during World War II. 

Among the most remarkable of the documented cases of bilocation was Padre Pio's appearance in the air over San Giovanni Rotondo during World War II. While southern Italy remained in Nazi hands, American bombers were given the job of attacking the city of San Giovanni Rotondo. However, when they appeared over the city and prepared to unload their munitions, a brown-robed friar appeared before their aircraft. All attempts to release the bombs failed. In this way, Padre Pio kept his promise to the citizens that their town would be spared. Later on, when an American airbase was established at Foggia a few miles away, one of the pilots of this incident visited the friary and found, to his surprise, the friar he had seen in the air that day over San Giovanni.

9. Before dying at the age of 81, all his wounds healed without scars, just as he had foretold they would 50 years prior.

A doctor examining the saint's body who was present when he was dying observed that the wounds of the stigmata were completely healed, without any trace or scar. Padre Pio's body was placed in a coffin in the church of the monastery to allow pilgrims to visit and pray. 

10. Pilgrims can visit the rooms in which Padre Pio lived. 

All the cells where Padre Pio lived in Italy have been outfitted with vintage furnishings to make them look exactly like they were in the early 20th century. Each site also boasts a small museum with relics and artifacts from his life.

11. Many miracles have been attributed to Padre Pio. 

Several miracles have been attributed to the saint's intercession, including the story of Gemma di Giorgio, a little girl who visited Padre Pio. Born blind without pupils in either eye, she miraculously regained her sight after visiting him. One truly miraculous factor about her healing was that, although she could see, she still lacked pupils. Another miracle was chronicled on EWTN.

12. He established a hospital.

Living a life of suffering, made difficult by physical pain and sickness, Padre Pio was able to build a hospital with the help of generous sponsors. Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, which means "Home for the Relief of the Suffering," was inaugurated on May 5, 1956. The hospital sits atop a hill overlooking San Giovanni Rotondo. Starting with only about 250 beds and just enough equipment, the hospital is now known for its state-of-the-art facilities and services.

13. Even before his death on Sept. 23, 1968, Padre Pio reportedly spent his last moments in prayer. 

Beatified in 1999, St. Padre Pio was canonized on June 16, 2002, by the late pope St. John Paul II. He is known among Catholics as St. Pio of Pietrelcina. More than 500,000 attended his canonization.

The video below shows St. Pio celebrating Mass the day before his death:

This article was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

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Vatican City, Sep 23, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has named 28 new consultors to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, including moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi, who has expressed opinions contrary to Church teaching.

Chiodi, a moral theologian, has come under media scrutiny in recent years for suggesting contraception use in marriage could be morally permissible in some circumstances.

In a 2017 lecture in Rome, the priest also said that homosexual relationships "under certain conditions" could be "the most fruitful way" for those with same-sex attraction "to enjoy good relations."

Chiodi was made a theology professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and the Family Sciences in 2019 following its refounding by Pope Francis. He has also been a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office responsible for issues of doctrinal orthodoxy in the Catholic Church and the investigation and prosecution of sex abuse by priests, has been under the leadership of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández since September 2023. 

In the past year, the DDF has faced internal and ecumenical fallout from Fiducia Supplicans, the dicastery's declaration permitting nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples. It has also published a document on human dignity, Dignitas Infinita, that addresses growing concerns over gender theory, sex changes, surrogacy, and euthanasia in addition to abortion, poverty, human trafficking, and war.

In May, the dicastery also issued new norms on judging alleged Marian apparitions, subsequently approving Marian devotion at a number of spiritual sites, including most recently at Medjugorje.

The nearly three dozen new external consultants — experts in theology, canon law, and Scripture — will meet with existing DDF consultors to advise the dicastery's leadership and members at regular intervals.

The 28 new appointments are mostly Italian priest-theologians but also include six women — two religious sisters and four lay theologians — and two lay male theologians.

The full list of new consultors is below:

Bishop Antonio Staglianò, president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology

Father Giovanni Ancona, theology professor

Father Giacomo Canobbio, scientific director of the Catholic Academy of Brescia

Father Carlo Dell'Osso, secretary of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archeology in Rome

Father Basilio Petrà, theologian

Father Bruno Fabio Pighin, canonist

Father Mario Stefano Antonelli, rector of the Pontifical Lombardo Seminary of Sts. Ambrogio and Carlo in Rome

Father Pasquale Bua, theologian

Father Maurizio Chiodi, theologian

Father Massimo Del Pozzo, canonist

Father Aristide Fumagalli, theologian

Father Federico Giuntoli, biblicist

Father Pier Davide Guenzi, moral theologian

Father Franco Manzi, theologian

Father Massimo Regini, theologian

Father Raffaele Talmelli, superior general of the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete and exorcist

Father Denis Chardonnens, OCD, theologian

Father Armando Genovese, MSC, theologian

Father Juan Manuel Granados Rojas, SJ, biblicist

Father Dominic Sundararaj Irudayaraj, SJ, biblicist

Mario Bracci, theologian

Sister Giuseppina Daniela Del Gaudio, SFI, director of the Observatory for Apparitions and Mystical Phenomena regarding the Virgin Mary in the World

Sister Benedetta Rossi, Missionaries of Mary, biblicist

Donatella Abignente, theologian

Claudia Leal Luna, theologian

Sandra Mazzolini, theologian

Ignazia Siviglia, theologian

Emanuele Spedicato, canonist

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Denver, Colo., Sep 23, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The state constitutions of California, Colorado, and Hawaii still define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, but measures on the 2024 election ballots in those states could remove this traditional definition.

The proposed removal of the long-standing language on marriage is largely seen as symbolic, since the U.S. Supreme Court already legalized same-sex marriage in all U.S. jurisdictions in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Nonetheless, in 2020, Nevada became the first state to repeal its constitutional provision defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

In Colorado, the state constitution currently maintains that "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The ballot measure, if successful, would remove this definition, which has been defunct since 2015. 

The "Protecting the Freedom to Marry" amendment, also known as Amendment J, has been added to the state's November ballot after being approved by a two-thirds vote of the Colorado House and Senate.

Colorado's bishops take a stand

Brittany Vessely, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, noted that "while Obergefell made same-sex marriage status quo, there are still important considerations concerning [Amendment J]."

"Marriage is based on the truth that men and women are complementary, the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman, and the social science that supports the reality that children need both a mother and a father to flourish," Vessely told CNA. "This amendment rejects the truth of what marriage is."

"This measure will change current Colorado law only if Obergefell is overturned," Vessely noted. "If the decision is overturned, then there are no legal protections for marriage — the institution that best protects the interest of the family and children."

The Colorado bishops made a statement opposing Amendment J earlier this year, saying that it was "imperative" for faithful Catholics to oppose Amendment J as well as a pro-abortion amendment that would allow public funding of abortion and enshrine abortion as a right in the constitution. 

California's bishops have not taken an official stance

Meanwhile, California's ballot measure proposes to not only remove the definition of marriage, like Colorado's, but also add the "right to marry" as a "fundamental right" in the state's constitution. Known as Proposition 3, the measure would repeal the 2008 state constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.  

Jonathan Keller, president of the California Family Council, is leading opposition to Proposition 3. "If you abolish the definition of marriage and say that marriage can mean anything, then marriage actually means nothing," Keller pointed out.

Keller also warned that passage of the amendment could easily lead to the legalization of other irregular forms of marriage, including child marriage and polygamy.

According to Kathleen Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, California bishops have not taken an official stance on Proposition 3.

"The bishops of California have not taken a position on Prop 3," Domingo told CNA. "If passed, Prop 3 will not affect Catholic institutions in any way," she indicated.

Supporters of the measure include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. 

Hawaii's bishops 'will not take a formal position' on the measure

Hawaii's ballot measure would potentially remove a 1998 constitutional amendment that states that "the Legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples." Subsequent to the 1998 amendment, Hawaii's Marriage Equality Act of 2013 explicitly legalized same-sex marriage in the state two years before the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Eva Andrade, executive director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, told CNA that removing the language from the state constitution would be "unnecessary."

"The Hawaii Catholic Conference recognizes that in 1998, nearly 70% of voters granted state legislators the authority to define marriage," she said. "Given that federal law now recognizes same-sex marriage, removing this language from the constitution is unnecessary." 

Andrade noted that the conference "will not take a formal position" on the ballot measure. She noted that "a 'yes' vote removes the 1998 language, protecting same-sex marriage if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns current law; a 'no' vote retains legislative authority to define marriage; and a blank vote counts as a 'no' vote."

"In Hawaii, blank votes count as no votes, and the yes votes must be 51% to win," Andrade said. "Historically speaking, changes to the constitution are difficult to make, and we must help the voters understand the process."

American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, and the Democratic Party of Hawaii, among others, support the measure.

According to a 2023 Pew Research survey, 63% of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal, while 34% are against it. Support for same-sex marriage increased steadily in the U.S. from 2004 to 2017 while remaining steady since, according to Pew.

The Catholic Church teaches that "homosexual persons are called to chastity" and that homosexual acts are contrary to natural law and close the sexual act off from the gift of life, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Nos. 2359, 2357). The catechism also condemns any "unjust discrimination" toward people with homosexual inclinations.

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Vatican City, Sep 22, 2024 / 09:25 am (CNA).

On Sunday, Pope Francis recalled Jesus' teaching that true power is found by taking care of others, not by exploiting them or using them.

"With a word as simple as it is decisive, Jesus renews our way of living. He teaches us that true power does not lie in the dominion of the strongest but in care for the weakest," the pope said in his weekly Angelus address Sept. 22.

"True power," Francis emphasized, "is taking care of the weakest; that makes you great."

The pontiff delivered his brief reflection on the day's Gospel from a window of the Apostolic Palace, which overlooks St. Peter's Square, where thousands had gathered to see the pope and to pray with him.

After leading the Angelus prayer in Latin, Pope Francis remembered a Catholic man who dedicated his life to serving the weak: Juan Antonio López, a Catholic environmental activist who was killed after leaving his church in Tocoa in northeastern Honduras on Sept. 14.

In addition to his work in defense of the environment, López was a delegate of the Word of God in the Diocese of Trujillo, where, with the permission of the local bishop, he would lead celebrations of the Word of God, which include the proclamation of the Gospel and the distribution of Eucharistic hosts previously consecrated by priests. Delegates of the Word of God serve in places where priests visit infrequently.

López was also his diocese's social justice coordinator, a founding member of the integral ecology council, and a member of the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa. The Catholic husband and father was known for his defense of creation and the rights of the poor and Indigenous in the face of environmental exploitation in Honduras.

"I join in the mourning of the Church and the condemnation of all forms of violence," the pontiff said. "I am close to those who see their elementary rights trampled upon and those who work for the common good in response to the cry of the poor and the earth."

"How many people, how many, suffer and die because of power struggles," Pope Francis said in his reflection before the Angelus. "Theirs are lives that the world rejects, as it rejected Jesus… When [Jesus] was delivered into the hands of men, he found not an embrace but a cross. Nevertheless, the Gospel remains a living and hopeful word: He who was rejected is risen; he is Lord!"

In his message, Pope Francis described the scene in the day's Gospel passage: "Today the Gospel of the liturgy (Mark 9:30-37) tells us about Jesus who announces what will happen at the culmination of his life: 'The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.'"

"The disciples, however, while they are following the Master, have other things in their mind and on their lips," the pope pointed out. "When Jesus asks them what they were talking about, they do not answer."

This silence, Francis noted, is telling. "The disciples are silent because they were discussing who was the greatest. What a contrast with the words of the Lord! While Jesus confided in them the meaning of his very life, they were talking about power."

The pope noted the words of Jesus to his disciples: "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."

Then Jesus, Pope Francis explained, illustrated his point by embracing a child, telling his disciples: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me."

"The child has no power; he has needs," he said. "We, all of us, are alive because we have been welcomed, but power makes us forget this truth. Then we become people who dominate, not servants, and the first to suffer as a result are the last: the little ones, the weak, the poor."

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ACI Africa, Sep 22, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Members of the African Synodal Digital Youth Influencers who graduated recently from the African Digital Faith Influencers Formation program of the Pan African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) were told to "brace for the challenges that lie ahead of [them] in the digital peripheries [they] seek to evangelize."

In his keynote address at the Sept. 12 graduation ceremony, Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah of Nigeria's Diocese of Nsukka warned the 56 participants in the PACTPAN program of the complexities that exist in digital spaces.

Onah reminded the graduates that in the Church, the digital world is still at the periphery needing to be evangelized.

"Life at the periphery is not easy. There is no order. If you have experienced a slum in any city, then you will understand that evangelizing the periphery is not a joke," he said. 

"If we consider the digital world as the periphery for our evangelization, we should not expect the order we find in usual missionary spaces and structures. Part of that is the flexibility of the digital world."

"We must be encouraged by St. Francis, who challenges us to move out from the center and get to the peripheries," the bishop said.

PACTPAN's Digital Faith Influencers Formation program began in February with more than 100 candidates who came from 52 African countries.

In an interview with ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, following the graduation, Sister Josephine Bakhita, an official at PACTPAN's "Church of Now" who coordinated the formation program, said that some candidates had to drop out of the program, which was solely online.

"Some of our students could not keep up with the classes owing to internet challenges and they had to drop out along the way. But a bigger percent of them managed to complete the training and unveil projects they will be engaging in in their dioceses and parishes," Bakhita, of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega, said in a Sept. 13 interview.

The PACTPAN course was designed to equip participants with skills to become faith champions among their peers living in what the facilitators of the program described as "digital peripheries."

It was developed to empower young African leaders with the skills necessary to engage in digital evangelization, advocate for social justice, and provide impactful community service.

In his address at the graduation ceremony, Onah underlined the need to "reevangelize" digital peripheries, noting that the digital world "is driving modern culture."

"Unless we Africans help shape the values that will be promoted by the digital world, we will end up being destroyed by those values," the bishop said.

"Digital technologies have become very important," he said, adding: "When we think we are lost in a corner where nobody will take note of us, digital technology throws us into the center of world attention, even in spite of ourselves. This is an indication to all of us that we can no longer take any of these things for granted; we are living in a new reality."

Onah lauded organizers of the digital influencing formation program, noting that participants in the initiative had been prepared, empowered, and were ready to spread the Gospel.

Emphasizing Pope Francis' message on reaching out to the peripheries, Onah expressed gratitude to the Holy Father, who he said is always encouraging the people of God to take new initiatives, not to just continue doing business as usual "but to explore new grounds even at the risk of being wounded."

"We are reminded of the Holy Father saying that he prefers a Church that is soiled, dirtied, and wounded while ministering to people, especially in difficult areas, to a Church that remains clean and pure because it doesn't dare to risk," Onah said.

He added: "When we come before God, perhaps, we will present to him our clean hands, having done everything to prevent ourselves from being stained by the world. I may say, 'Father, my hands are clean,' but he will tell me, 'Yes, they are clean, but they are also empty.' It is a risky business, a business in which we may soil our hands, but it will definitely not be empty."

Onah encouraged digital faith influencers, especially those who enjoy creating content, to accept being evangelized on digital platforms as well.

He said the digital world as "the recipient of evangelization" is subtle, adding: "My challenge to the graduates and to all of us in this digital era is not to just see the digital world as an instrument of evangelization, no matter how well we are able to use it, but as subjects needing to be evangelized."

In his address at the graduation ceremony, the first assistant of the secretary-general of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Father Alfred Bebodu, challenged the students to amplify the voice of reason in digital spaces.

Bebodu lauded the young influencers for investing their hard work and dedication in completing eight months of training, saying: "Your commitment reflects the vibrancy of the Church in Africa, and it fills us with hope for the future."

"You are now entrusted with great responsibility to be voices of faith and reason in the digital space, addressing not only spiritual matters but also social, economic, and environmental challenges facing our continent," he said.

Bebodu reminded the graduates that the mission of SECAM has always been to promote evangelization and integral human development for all the people of God in Africa and its islands.

He said the young people's role as "digital faith influencers" perfectly aligns with the mission of SECAM.

"As we prepare for the jubilee year, marking a significant milestone for the Church in Africa next year, we also look to the future with vision and commitment. One of the priorities for the next 25 years will be the integration of technology in evangelization," he said.

The SECAM official warned the young faith influencers that the digital era is a sensitive one requiring careful study.

Digital technologies, he said, are tools that can either procure much success in helping evangelization or bring about destruction.

"Strategy comes [into] play," Bebodu said, adding: "We envision platforms that will cultivate the hearts of the youths and broader communities fostering both spiritual growth and social cohesion. Your creativity, knowledge, and passion will be instrumental in realizing this vision." 

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

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CNA Staff, Sep 21, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A group of Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas, announced this month that they would henceforth associate with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist group that is not in full communion with the Catholic Church and has a canonically irregular status.

The nuns have been at the center of considerable controversy since last year after an investigation was launched by the Diocese of Fort Worth over reported sexual misconduct by the order's reverend mother superior. 

The nuns defied a Vatican decree on their monastery's governance and sought a restraining order against Bishop Michael Olson, the bishop of Fort Worth. The nuns' rejection of authority "is scandalous and is permeated with the odor of schism," Olson said this week. 

Church leaders have at times argued the same thing about SSPX, a controversial fraternity of priests known for their strict traditional celebration of the Latin Mass and opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The animating principle of the group "is the priesthood and all that pertains to it and nothing but what concerns it," SSPX says on its website. The group was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a French prelate who was a sharp critic of many of the changes brought about by Vatican II. 

In addition to the modern revisions of the Mass, Lefebvre also opposed "ecumenism — a viewpoint which considered all religions as beneficial and valid — and collegiality — which insisted that the Church be ruled primarily by the democratic process and bishops' conferences," according to the group's website. 

The group runs priories, chapels, and missions around the world as well as seminaries. It commands several hundred priests and a few hundred more seminarians. 

Perhaps the group's most controversial moment came in 1988 when Lefebvre consecrated four bishops in Écône, Switzerland, in explicit defiance of Pope John Paul II. Within hours the Vatican declared that Lefebvre and the four bishops had incurred excommunication on themselves.

In his motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, John Paul argued that it was "impossible to remain faithful to the Tradition while breaking the ecclesial bond with him to whom, in the person of the Apostle Peter, Christ himself entrusted the ministry of unity in his Church."

Pope Benedict XVI lifted this excommunication in 2009, though he explained in a letter that SSPX does not have canonical status and therefore "its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church." 

Pope Francis further expanded the group's privileges, ordering during the 2015–2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy that confessions heard by SSPX priests were valid; he subsequently extended this order indefinitely. 

In 2017, meanwhile, he ??approved a way for the group's priests to witness marriages validly, giving diocesan bishops or other local ordinaries the ability to authorize such decisions. 

Can Catholics attend a Mass given by priests of SSPX?

Some Catholics seek out SSPX-ministered Masses due to their solemnity and fidelity to earlier forms of the liturgy. But is this allowed by the Church? 

Jimmy Akin, a senior apologist with Catholic Answers, told CNA that SSPX "is not currently in schism." 

"In 1988, John Paul II ruled that the episcopal ordinations the society had conducted in disobedience to the Roman pontiff implied in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy and therefore constituted a schismatic act," he noted. 

"This triggered the automatic penalty of excommunication for schism for the bishops involved and, in John Paul II's words, anyone who gave 'formal adherence' to the schism."

Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 lifting of those excommunications "implies that the SSPX is no longer in schism, since schism carries an automatic excommunication," he said. 

"If they were still in a state of schism, the excommunications could not have been lifted without the law immediately reimposing them. Therefore, they are no longer in schism."

But the priests of the society are "celebrating Mass without the proper permissions, creating a canonically irregular situation," Akin said.

He pointed out that the Code of Canon Law stipulates that Catholics "can participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice and receive holy Communion in any Catholic rite." Since SSPX is using the approved 1962 rite of the Mass, "the faithful can attend it and receive holy Communion."

"The fact it is being celebrated in a canonically irregular situation does not change this," Akin said. 

He pointed out that "every time a priest commits a liturgical abuse, it creates a canonically irregular situation," but that the Church "does not want the laity to have to judge which canonically irregular situations involve 'too much' of a departure from the law." 

Thus the faithful's "right to attend and receive holy Communion in any Catholic rite is protected."

Though the faithful are not strictly prohibited from attending SSPX Masses, Church leaders have in several instances warned Catholics against doing so except in serious circumstances.

"The Masses they [SSPX] celebrate are also valid, but it is considered morally illicit for the faithful to participate in these Masses unless they are physically or morally impeded from participating in a Mass celebrated by a Catholic priest in good standing," Monsignor Camille Perl, then-secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, said in 1995.

A 1998 letter by Perl noted that the "schismatic mentality" of SSPX led the pontifical commission to "consistently [discourage] the faithful from attending Masses celebrated under the aegis of the Society of St. Pius X."

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CNA Staff, Sep 21, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Pro-life advocates have seen significant gains in rolling back the death penalty in states around the country in recent years. A smaller but still determined band of activists and policymakers, meanwhile, is hoping for a similar victory at the federal level. 

The vast majority of executions in the United States are carried out at the state level. Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1976 Gregg v. Georgia decision affirming the legality of the death penalty, just 16 convicts have been put to death by the federal government, compared with nearly 1,600 by state governments.

Since the turn of the century, the death penalty has become increasingly unpopular in the United States. A majority of states are currently not executing prisoners. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have outlawed the death penalty, while an additional six states have executive holds on capital punishment.

Federal executions are relatively rare affairs, although 13 inmates were executed in the last six months of President Donald Trump's first term.

Among them was Lisa Montgomery, who murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Missouri in 2004 in order to steal her unborn baby. Montgomery was the first woman to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.

Advocates had argued prior to her execution that she had endured a "lifetime of horrific torture" that had given her permanent brain damage and "[disrupted] her ability to function normally."

President Joe Biden campaigned in 2020 to abolish the federal death penalty; the Biden administration issued a moratorium on executions after Biden took office. But a total of 40 federal inmates remain on death row.

A group of Democratic senators introduced the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act in 2021 in a bid to abolish federal capital punishment. That bill died in committee. The senators reintroduced the bill during the current session of Congress.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who co-sponsored both bills, told CNA that the measure faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where Democrats hold a very slim majority. 

For most proposals in the Senate, Kaine noted, the rules stipulate a 60-vote threshold. "We're not yet there," he said of the death penalty measure. "We just have to keep kind of working at it and finding Republican colleagues who are willing to join us." 

He pointed to the successful bipartisan effort to abolish the death penalty in Virginia in 2021 under Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. "I'm very pleased with what Virginia was able to do under Gov. Northam, and not just with the Democratic vote," he said. "There were Republicans who played an important role in that effort."

Kaine is Catholic and said the Church's opposition to the death penalty is an "important component" in his opposition to capital punishment. 

The Church's stance against capital punishment was strengthened several years ago with an addition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church stipulating that the death penalty is "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person." The Church "works with determination for its abolition worldwide," the catechism states.

"Another is the reality that humans make mistakes," Kaine argued. "If we put someone in jail or prison by mistake — and we occasionally do — there's some ability to correct the mistake. But history has been filled with instances of executions later found to be the wrong person." 

"It could [also] be somebody who did commit a crime but had a significant mental deficiency where putting them to death wasn't the just outcome," he argued. 

"The human capacity for error has always been one of the reasons I oppose the death penalty."

'We must mobilize our Catholic community'

The present federal abolition bill is currently at the Senate Judiciary Committee and hasn't shown signs of moving. Kaine, who is not a member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNA he wasn't sure if the measure would be voted on anytime soon.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of the anti-death-penalty Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), said the group is maintaining "a posture of persistent hope, prayer, and action as we work to abolish the scourge of capital punishment." 

Murphy noted that although the federal government under the Biden administration put a moratorium on federal executions, "the Justice Department [still] pursued death sentences for certain cases." 

"There is still time for President Biden to carry out his campaign promise," she said. "As he approaches the end of his presidency and the beginning of the Jubilee Year of his Catholic faith, we believe there are opportunities for him to take bold action at the federal level, like commuting the federal death row, that can herald the beginning of the end of capital punishment."

CMN says it was given "renewed resolve" after the flurry of executions in the Trump administration's final months, which constituted "more federal executions than any president [had performed] in 120 years," Murphy said. 

The group "grew more acutely aware that not only must we mobilize our Catholic community, we also must partner with diverse groups to accomplish our mission."

The federal death penalty could be scrapped by an abolition bill, Murphy noted. "That would require the vote of 60 senators, which in turn would require a large tilt in the senatorial balance," she said. "That would likely take a few years."

Whether or not it will come to pass is uncertain on this side of the November elections. Several forecasts have Republicans taking the U.S. Senate and keeping the U.S. House. If Trump were to win in November, that would likely scuttle efforts to abolish the federal death penalty via legislation for at least four years.

It's unclear if a Kamala Harris presidency would advance those efforts, however. Harris herself has not signaled her feelings on the death penalty over the brief course of her campaign (there are "so many other burning issues that rest on this election," Murphy noted). 

Kaine told CNA that he had not spoken with the vice president on the issue, though he said he would "not be surprised if she continued the current Biden practice" of a capital punishment moratorium. 

Notably, the 2024 Democratic National Committee platform dropped its opposition to the death penalty, the first time in years that the issue has been absent from the official party line. 

Patrick Whelan, the president of the Boston-based Catholic Democrats political group, claimed that Harris herself is "strongly opposed to the death penalty."  

"I don't know the inside baseball, but I suspect the platform committee concluded that they didn't want to create a vulnerability in an election where Mr. Trump has tried to make violent immigrant crime a big campaign issue," Whelan told CNA.  

"I also wonder if the language in the 2020 platform wasn't directly a product of President Biden's Catholicism, and the Church's unequivocal stance on the issue under Pope Francis," he said. 

Catholic Democrats, Whelan noted, "through our 20-year history has always been unequivocally opposed to the death penalty."

The death penalty will likely remain a relatively ancillary issue to the vast majority of voters in the final weeks of the 2024 contest, with abortion, immigration, and the economy taking top spot on most polls. 

Still, advocates will continue to press the issue. Kaine noted that in Virginia, Republicans from unlikely environs — such as the conservative southwestern portion of the state — joined with Democrats to help abolish it. 

The coalition of lawmakers who ultimately scrapped the death penalty in Virginia "might not have been the ones everyone predicted," Kaine said. 

"That gives me hope at the federal level," he said. 

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CNA Staff, Sep 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Seventy-one years ago, on Sept. 21, 1953, a young Jorge Mario Bergoglio's priestly vocation was born. He would enter the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on March 11, 1958, and be ordained a priest on Dec. 13, 1969, just days before his 33rd birthday. On March 13, 2013, he would be elected pope.

In a homily given in May 2013, Pope Francis shared the story of when he felt the stirrings of the call to the priesthood: "I passed by the parish where I was going, found a priest, whom I did not know, and felt the need to go to confession. This was an experience of encounter: I found that someone was waiting for me."

The pope explained that he didn't know why he felt so called to go to confession, especially since he didn't know the priest. After confession, he felt "that something had changed."

"I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice, a call: I was convinced that I should become a priest," he said. 

The day of Pope Francis' life-changing experience also happened to be the day the Church celebrates the feast of St. Matthew, the tax collector whom Jesus called to become an apostle. 

Given that his own vocation came through an experience of God's mercy, Pope Francis chose his motto, "Miserando atque eligendo," from a homily given by St. Bede on the call of St. Matthew. The quote translates to "by having mercy, he called him."

The pope has also repeatedly described the painting of the vocation of St. Matthew by Caravaggio in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome.

In a homily given on Sept. 21, 2017, Pope Francis recalled: "Jesus came from healing a paralytic and as he was leaving he found this man called Matthew. The Gospel says: 'He saw a man called Matthew.' And where was this man? Sitting at the tax booth. One of those who made the people of Israel pay taxes, to give them to the Romans — a traitor to his country."

"The man felt looked down upon by Jesus. He said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him. But what happened? That is the power of Jesus' gaze. Surely he looked at him with so much love, with so much mercy, that look of the merciful Jesus. 'Follow me, come,'" he said. "And the other looking sideways, with one eye on God and the other on money, clinging to money as Caravaggio painted him: just like that, clinging and also with a surly, gruff look. And Jesus loving, merciful. And the resistance of the man who wanted money — he was such a slave to money — falls."

The pope has also shared that he often feels like he can relate to Matthew. 

"That finger of Jesus like that, toward Matthew. That's how I am. That's how I feel. Like Matthew," Pope Francis said in an interview with Father Antonio Spadaro. 

"It is Matthew's gesture that strikes me," the pope said. "He grabs his money, as if to say: 'No, not me! No, this money is mine!' Here, this is me: a sinner to whom the Lord has turned his eyes. And this is what I said when they asked me if I would accept my election as pope."

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