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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 23, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed that she would oppose religious exemptions in abortion laws if elected president and emphasized that she would not make concessions to Republicans on the issue.

The Democratic nominee made the comments in a Tuesday interview when NBC News' Hallie Jackson asked Harris "what concessions would be on the table" when considering federal laws on abortion and specifically whether she would consider "religious exemptions."

"I don't think we should be making concessions when we're talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body," Harris responded.

Jackson followed up on the question, asking whether the vice president would extend "an olive branch" to moderate Republicans who support legal abortion but do not support all of Harris' abortion policies. But the Democratic nominee also rejected this, saying abortion "cannot be negotiable."

"I'm not gonna engage in hypotheticals because we could go on a variety of scenarios," Harris said. "Let's just start with a fundamental fact, a basic freedom has been taken from the women of America: the freedom to make decisions about their own body. And that cannot be negotiable, which is that we need to put back in the protections of Roe v. Wade."

Harris continued, adding that former president Donald Trump "allowed Roe v. Wade to be overturned" and said: "So that's my point about what is nonnegotiable — it has to be that we agree that it is so fundamental that we allow women the ability with their doctor, with, if they choose, talking with their faith leader, to be able to make these decisions and not have the government tell her what to do."

The vice president's opposition to religious freedom exemptions regarding abortion laws is consistent with her record as a senator. In 2019, Harris introduced the Do No Harm Act, which would have scaled back religious liberty exemptions to government mandates that exist in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Under the proposed law, which failed to make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, religious employers would not be exempt from covering "any health care item or service" that is required under federal law. This would have eliminated religious exemptions to any coverage related to abortion, contraception, transgender surgeries, or any other health care issue.

Harris introduced the proposal when the Catholic Little Sisters of the Poor sought a religious exemption to an Affordable Care Act rule that mandated coverage of drugs that could induce abortions. Although the sisters were initially denied, they obtained their religious exemption with a victory in the United States Supreme Court thanks to the exemptions that Harris was trying to remove from federal law.

Opposition to religious liberty exemptions for abortion is also consistent with the Biden-Harris administration's policies over the last four years.

The Biden-Harris Department of Health and Human Services promulgated a rule in 2022 that sought to force all hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to provide abortions if it constituted a "stabilizing treatment" under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). This rule was blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the administration's appeal.

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "direct abortion is never permissible." 

Grazie Pozo Christie, a senior fellow at The Catholic Association, said in a statement that Harris "should clarify, and quickly, whether given the chance she would force Americans who object on religious or conscience grounds to participate in abortion."

"Sadly, it would not be the first time Harris has used her political power to trample the rights of religious Americans," Christie said.

Harris has committed to enshrining a legal right to abortion into federal law at least until the point of viability by codifying the abortion standards set in the now-defunct Roe v. Wade ruling. During her candidacy for president, she has also refused to disavow late-term abortion, which is legal in several states.

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Lima Newsroom, Oct 23, 2024 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

The apostolic nunciature in Peru announced that Pope Francis has approved the expulsion of two more members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodality of Christian Life) in the wake of the report of the special mission he sent in July 2023 to investigate allegations of abuse.

The statement from the nunciature was published Oct. 21 by the Peruvian Bishops' Conference.

The text mentions José Ambrozic Velezmoro, former assistant for Temporalities, Communications, and Apostolate as well as former vicar general, along with Father Luis Antonio Ferroggiaro Dentone.

Although the name of Ricardo Trenemann Young also appears in the statement, his expulsion from the sodality had already been announced on Sept. 25.

According to the nunciature, Pope Francis made the decision "after evaluating the defense [statements] corresponding to the accusations that emerged during the 'Special Mission'" entrusted to Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and official of the same dicastery, respectively.

"In adopting this decision, the scandal caused by the number and gravity of the abuses reported by the victims was considered, particularly contrary to the balanced and liberating experience of the evangelical counsels in the context of the ecclesial apostolate," the statement added.

The statement said that "these are cases of abuse of office and authority, particularly in the form of abuse in the administration of ecclesiastical goods, as well as sexual abuse, in some cases even of minors."

"In this regard, in the case of Rev. Ferroggiaro Dentone, the present disciplinary decision is not an obstacle to the proceedings that are simultaneously being carried out by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, given the clerical state of the accused," it explained.

The statement concluded by stating that "Pope Francis, together with the bishops of Peru and those places where the Sodality of Christian Life is present, saddened by what happened, ask forgiveness from the victims and join in their suffering. They also ask this society of apostolic life to, without further delay, provide for justice and reparation."

On Sept. 30, the sodality published a statement signed by its superior general, José David Correa González, affirming that it accepts with "humility and obedience" the decision of the pope to expel several of its members and renewed its "adherence to the Vicar of Christ" and its love for the Catholic Church.

The text was issued following the dismissal of 10 of its members, announced on Sept. 25.

The apostolate assured that it will continue "collaborating with the various bodies of guidance and accompaniment that the Holy See indicates to us" and reiterated its commitment "to listening to and caring for the victims, and to the processes of reparation through justice and truth."

Correa also said the sodalits will continue with the process of renewal, "trusting in the Lord who has sustained us throughout these years and will continue to accompany us under the care of holy Mary our Mother."

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

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 23, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

A group of nuns and religious associations fighting for exemption from a New York law mandating they provide abortion coverage to their employees has gained support from a coalition of Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Catholic, and other Christian groups as they take their legal battle to the Supreme Court.

In Diocese of Albany v. Harris, the plaintiffs are suing the state of New York after it mandated employers to cover abortions in their employee health insurance plans. The nuns have been engaged in the litigation since first filing suit in 2017. Their case is one of several religious freedom cases that could be on the Supreme Court docket this term.

Twenty states including Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio have thrown their weight behind the case, alongside the University of Notre Dame's Religious Liberty Clinic and various Catholic health care professionals and organizations. Together with the various religious groups, they collectively filed seven friend-of-the-court briefs asking the Supreme Court to block the mandate.

"New York is bullying nuns into bankrolling abortions because they serve all people, no matter their faith," said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at the religious liberty law firm Becket, in a press release. "That is unacceptable — as this outpouring of support shows, religious organizations should be free to care for the needy without having to violate their beliefs."

The plaintiffs, including the Sisters of St. Mary, a contemplative order of goat-herding Anglican nuns, asked the state in the filing for protection against the regulation, but the New York court refused.

Following the initial decision, the religious groups appealed to the Supreme Court, which returned it to the state court in May. In their filing, they asked the court to reconsider the case in light of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a religious liberty case that upheld the religious liberty of private Catholic adoption agencies.

However, the lower court once again denied the plaintiffs' appeals, upholding the abortion mandate, leading Becket to appeal to the Supreme Court for a second time this past September.

The seven briefs include a joint contribution from Muslim and Hindu groups as well as from Jewish and Christian groups, including the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) and representatives from various Protestant denominations.

In their respective briefings, the diverse coalition explains why the protection of religious freedom is crucial for those who are practicing members of a minority faith.

"Abortion has been at the center of a religious, moral, political, and judicial firestorm for decades," the amicus briefing filed by the Christian coalition reads. "Until recently, supporters and opponents of abortion rights acknowledged that coercing religious organizations to support abortion triggers profound questions of religious freedom."

Having previously forced religious charity organizations to include contraception in their employee health plans, the briefing states, "New York has taken the long next step" by "dragooning religious organizations into becoming complicit in abortion," a move the briefing calls "an intolerable invasion of religious autonomy."

"The Constitution protects the free exercise of religion," the brief submitted by The Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team of the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness adds. "In a religiously pluralistic and highly regulated society like ours, there can be no free exercise of religion for minority faiths without religious exemptions."

The Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the case "later this fall," according to Becket.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 23, 2024 / 04:35 am (CNA).

Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, the Peruvian Dominican priest considered the "father" of liberation theology, died Oct. 22 at the age of 96.

The Dominican Province of St. John the Baptist of Peru announced the death of Gutiérrez, noting he was the author of the influential 1971 book "A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation."

"We ask for your prayers to accompany our dear brother so that he may enjoy eternal life," stated the announcement signed by Father Rómulo Vásquez Gavidia, OP, the provincial prior.

The Dominicans indicated that Gutiérrez's remains would lie in state at the Santo Domingo convent in Lima's historic center.

The Vatican and liberation theology

The theology of liberation is a school of thought that explored dimensions of liberation from the standpoint of Catholic social teaching. In some of its radical expressions, in particular in Latin America, liberation theology embraced many elements of Marxist theory and advocated for social change through various forms of revolution. At times, it also cast Christ as a form of revolutionary figure.

Its more extreme dimensions emphasized a closeness with the poor and the suffering and called for authentic liberation in Christ.

In a January 2017 interview with Spanish newspaper El País, Pope Francis said: "Liberation theology was a positive thing in Latin America. The Vatican condemned the part that opted for Marxist analysis of reality. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [the later Pope Benedict XVI] issued two instructions when he was prefect of the [then-Congregation for the] Doctrine of the Faith: One very clear about the Marxist analysis of reality, and the second taking up positive aspects."

During St. John Paul II's papacy, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith conducted an investigation that resulted in two documents: "The Instruction on Certain Aspects of the 'Theology of Liberation,'" Libertatis Nuntius (1984), and the "Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation," Libertatis Conscientia (1986). 

Over many years, the Vatican examined Gutiérrez's writings. In 2006, the Peruvian bishops' conference reported that the Vatican had "concluded the path of clarification of problematic points contained in some works of the author" in 2004, with a revised second version of Gutiérrez's article "Ecclesial Koinonia."

Life and writings

Born on June 8, 1928, Gutiérrez was ordained a priest in 1959 and joined the Dominican order in 2001. He studied medicine and literature at the National University of San Marcos while participating in Catholic Action. He later studied theology at the University of Louvain in Belgium and the Institut Catholique of Lyon in France.

Gutiérrez served as the John Cardinal O'Hara Endowed professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. His books have been translated into multiple languages.

One of Gutiérrez's last international appearances was in Rome in October 2019 at a congress held at the Jesuit General Curia. There, at the invitation of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL), he delivered a lecture on "The Preferential Option for the Poor."

A year earlier, in June 2018, Pope Francis sent Gutiérrez a letter for his 90th birthday, thanking him "for what you have contributed to the Church and humanity through your theological service and your preferential love for the poor and the discarded of society."

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

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CNA Newsroom, Oct 23, 2024 / 04:35 am (CNA).

Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, the Peruvian Dominican priest considered the" father" of liberation theology, died on October 22 at the age of 96.

The Dominican Province of St. John the Baptist of Peru announced the death of Gutiérrez, noting he was the author of the influential 1971 book "A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation."

"We ask for your prayers to accompany our dear brother so that he may enjoy eternal life," stated the announcement signed by Fr. Rómulo Vásquez Gavidia O.P., the provincial prior.

The Dominicans indicated that Gutiérrez's remains would lie in state at the Santo Domingo convent in Lima's historic center.

The Vatican and Liberation Theology

The Theology of Liberation is a school of thought that explored dimensions of liberation from the standpoint of Catholic Social Teaching. In some of its radical expressions, in particular in Latin America, liberation theology embraced many elements of Marxist theory and advocated for social change through various forms of revolution. At times, it also cast Christ as a form of revolutionary figure. 

Its more extreme dimensions emphasized a closeness with the poor and the suffering and called for authentic liberation in Christ.

In a January 2017 interview with Spanish newspaper El País, Pope Francis said: "Liberation theology was a positive thing in Latin America. The Vatican condemned the part that opted for Marxist analysis of reality. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [the later Pope Benedict XVI] issued two instructions when he was prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith: One very clear about the Marxist analysis of reality, and the second taking up positive aspects."

During St. John Paul II's papacy, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith conducted an investigation that resulted in two documents: "The instruction on certain aspects of the 'Theology of  Liberation'" – Libertatis Nuntius (1984) and the "Instruction on Christian freedom and liberation" – Libertatis Conscientia (1986). 

Over many years, the Vatican examined Gutiérrez's writings. In 2006, the Peruvian bishops' conference reported that the Vatican had "concluded the path of clarification of problematic points contained in some works of the author" in 2004, with a revised second version of Gutiérrez's article "Ecclesial Koinonia."

Life and Writings

Born on June 8, 1928, Gutiérrez was ordained a priest in 1959 and joined the Dominican order in 2001. He studied medicine and literature at the National University of San Marcos while participating in Catholic Action. He later studied theology at the University of Louvain (Belgium) and the Institut Catholique of Lyon (France).

Gutiérrez served as the John Cardinal O'Hara Endowed Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame (USA). His books have been translated into multiple languages.

One of Gutiérrez's last international appearances was in Rome in October 2019 at a congress held at the Jesuit General Curia. There, at the invitation of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL), he delivered a lecture on "The Preferential Option for the Poor."

A year earlier, in June 2018, Pope Francis sent Gutiérrez a letter for his 90th birthday, thanking him "for what you have contributed to the Church and humanity through your theological service and your preferential love for the poor and the discarded of society."

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

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CNA Staff, Oct 23, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A Catholic middle school in the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, is one of just two middle schools in the world chosen to compete in a prominent NASA engineering challenge. 

NASA announced earlier this month the teams of students it had picked to participate in this year's Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC). Middle schoolers at St. Mary's Catholic School in the Richmond Diocese were selected to participate; the other is Jesco von Puttkamer School in Leipzig, Germany.

The program "aims to put competitors in the mindset of NASA's Artemis campaign as they pitch an engineering design for a lunar terrain vehicle which simulates astronauts piloting a vehicle, exploring the lunar surface while overcoming various obstacles," according to NASA. The Artemis program will in 2026 put human beings back on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. 

All told, students from 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools were chosen by NASA; the teams hail from "20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations from around the world," NASA said. 

Among the other competitors is Pontifical Catholic University in Lima, Peru, as well as the Catholic University of Bolivia and the Catholic University of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo.

This is the 31st annual HERC program and the first time the challenge has been open to middle schoolers. The program has historically consisted of students crafting full-scale operational mock-ups of rovers; this year, for the first time, NASA introduced a remote-controlled division.

Both middle schools are competing in the remote division, as are several high school and college teams. The remote teams will "work to solve complex scientific tasks with a purpose-built vehicle," NASA said.

Peter Tlusty, an IB MYP design and technology teacher at the Richmond school, said the 28 students in the program will have to engage in numerous problem-solving and logistical challenges as part of the program in addition to designing the rover itself. 

"They have to come up with a budget. They have to do fundraisings. They have to have a media presence — Facebook and stuff like that," he said. 

Students will eventually take their rover down to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to test it out on an obstacle course that mimics both the lunar and Martian surfaces. 

Tlusty said the team will rigorously test the rover on a series of makeshift environments in Richmond before traveling to Alabama. 

"We're going to reach out to a couple of the landscaping places around Richmond and see if they'll let us bring our rover out to their sand piles," he said. The team may also seek donations from local landscaping outfits to create a mock-up course on campus. 

The competition can contribute greatly to a student's academic success, Tlusty said. 

"One of the first things kids ask is, 'What do we get if we win?'" Tlusty said with a laugh. "Well, for one, it looks great on your résumé." 

"I tell the kids: This puts you a notch above in competitions for scholarships," he said. "And it looks good on a college application too."

Tlusty said it's a considerable distinction to be chosen for the program. 

"Last year the number of HERC applications was a record," he said. "And this year the applications were up 40%. This is a competitive challenge people apply for." 

"It's amazing to be included," he continued. "When I saw they only picked two middle school teams, I was astonished. It's quite the honor."

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Rome Newsroom, Oct 23, 2024 / 06:19 am (CNA).

The Vatican announced Tuesday evening that Pope Francis had accepted the request of Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, OFM, not to be made a cardinal in a December consistory as had been previously announced.

The bishop's request "was motivated by his desire to continue growing in priestly life and in service to the Church and the People of God," a brief message from the Holy See Press Office said.

At the beginning of October, Pope Francis announced he would create 21 new cardinals, including Syukur, at a consistory to be held Dec. 7.

The 62-year-old Franciscan was consecrated bishop of Bogor, a diocese just south of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, in February 2014.

From 2001-2009, Syukur was the Franciscan provincial minister of Indonesia. In 2009, he became the general delegate for the Asia and Oceania region, which includes India, Pakistan, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.

The bishop has also held leadership positions in the Indonesian bishops' conference.

According to the liturgical schedule released by the Vatican's master of ceremonies Oct. 12, the ceremony to create the new cardinals — 19 eligible to be cardinal-electors — will be held in the afternoon on Dec. 7 in St. Peter's Basilica.

The following day, on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, Francis and the entire College of Cardinals will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving together in the Vatican Basilica.

With Syukur's withdrawal, as of Dec. 7, the total number of eligible cardinal electors will be 140, 110 of whom were chosen by Pope Francis. This means the current pontiff has named 79% of the men who will one day elect his successor.

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Puebla, Mexico, Oct 23, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Marcelo Pérez, a priest of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas, died on Oct. 20, killed by two men who shot him after he had celebrated Mass. His diocese now remembers him as a "tireless apostle of peace."

According to information provided by the diocese through a statement shared on Oct. 21, Pérez was born on Jan. 17, 1974, in San Andrés Larráinzar in Chiapas state.

From a young age he felt the call to the priesthood and entered the Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in 1990 in the Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutierrez. He was ordained a priest on April 6, 2002.

During his ministry, Pérez worked in various parishes. In his last two years, he served as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Cristóbal de las Casas.

His pastoral work included tasks such as coordinator of the Social Ministry of the Province of Chiapas. According to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas: "His life was spent in search of justice and peace, especially in Simojovel, Pantelho, and San Cristóbal de las Casas."

The diocesan statement noted that this commitment earned him consequences. "All this service he performed led him to suffer a long period of threats, persecution, harassment, slander, defamation, even an unfounded arrest warrant, which put his personal safety at risk, to the point of his life being taken."

One of the most difficult moments of his ministry occurred in 2021 when 21 young people were kidnapped by the self-defense group "El Machete" with whom Pérez was said to have ties. According to local media, the attorney general's office of the state of Chiapas issued an arrest warrant for him, but it was never carried out.

In an Aug. 2 interview with online news El Heraldo de Chiapas, Pérez assured that his work was always oriented toward peace and rejected the accusations against him, stating that "we never foment violence, even though the work we do is very visible and there is an arrest warrant that the government issued against me, but these are false accusations."

In the same interview, he revealed that a "price" had been put on his life, with a value of between 150,000 and 1 million Mexican pesos (between $7,500 and $50,000), "but we live under the protection of God; there is a lot of violence but we continue to build peace."

In its statement following his murder, the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas said that "even knowing that his life was in danger, he lived a profound faith in God and a great love for the people that took him to the ultimate consequences, sealing today, with his blood, his commitment to give his life."

The Catholic Church demands justice and a 'total end to violence'

The Mexican Bishops' Conference lamented in a statement the "brutal murder" of the priest, noting that this act "not only deprives the community of a dedicated pastor but also silences a prophetic voice that tirelessly fought for peace with truth and justice in the Chiapas region."

The Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas also issued a statement in which it demanded that the three levels of government "completely halt the violence" affecting Chiapas, describing it as the result of "impunity, complicity, and corruption."

The diocese reiterated its demand for the "immediate disarmament and dismantling of crime gangs" operating in the region. It also called for the murder of Pérez to be solved and for "justice be done until those truly responsible are found."

Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, who ordained Pérez as a priest, described him as a man "committed to justice and peace among Indigenous peoples."

In a statement shared with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, he emphasized that the murdered priest "never got involved in partisan politics but always fought for the values ??of the kingdom of God" and added that the priest was "very focused on his vocation, very prayerful and spent a lot of time before the tabernacle."

The cardinal noted that "his murder shows us, once again, the climate of violence that has been unleashed in Chiapas and in almost the entire country." He affirmed that this situation is indicative "that the government and all of us, including the churches, are overwhelmed. We haven't managed to stop the violence, but rather it is increasing."

The Latin American Bishops' Council (CELAM, by its Spanish acronym), after expressing its "consternation," recognized Pérez as a "tireless seeker of peace and justice for his people, the fruit of his faithful commitment to the Gospel and his total dedication to Christ present among those who suffer the most.

U.N.: Murder of Pérez 'absolutely unacceptable'

The murder was also condemned by Jesús Peña Palacios, deputy representative in Mexico of the United Nations Human Rights Organization, who noted that since 2015, Pérez had been under precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), "due to the constant risk to his life and personal safety due to his work in defense of human rights in Simojovel and other places in Chiapas."

"The murder of Father Marcelo is absolutely unacceptable. His work was widely recognized by Indigenous peoples in Chiapas and also internationally. Despite having protective measures and constant complaints about the attacks he faced, these were insufficient to prevent his murder," Peña said.

The governor of Chiapas, Rutilio Escandón, shared a video on social media on Oct. 21 in which he assured that "investigations began yesterday so that this homicide does not go unpunished and that the guilty parties face justice and the full weight of the law comes down upon them."

Likewise, in an Oct. 21 press conference, Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, deplored "the homicide, the murder of Father Marcelo Pérez Pérez in San Cristóbal de las Casas."

"The investigation is underway. Yesterday, the secretary of the interior was in communication with both the state government and the diocese and the ecclesiastical authorities. We are coordinating to be able to make progress in the investigation and ensure that this crime does not go unpunished," she said.

Sheinbaum added that as the investigation progresses, she will look into whether this case will be taken up by the federal attorney general's office.

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

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Caracas, Venezuela, Oct 22, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

At the conclusion of the 45th Extraordinary Plenary Assembly of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference (CEV, by its Spanish acronym), the bishops published a statement that included an analysis of the current state of the country along with a demand that the government release thousands of detainees, including minors, who were arrested in the demonstrations following that country's July 28 presidential election.

The assembly, which concluded Oct. 17 in Caracas, was led by Jesús González de Zárate, archbishop of Valencia and president of the CEV.

Extraordinary assemblies are convened when circumstances require it. The last one was held two years ago on April 26, 2022, when the protocol for the prevention of abuse in the Church was approved.

This year, the meeting aimed to analyze the situation in Venezuela and make pastoral decisions that respond to the emerging needs of the ecclesial community.

The bishops met with representatives of ecclesiastical, educational, and social institutions "to reflect on the national reality within a methodology that involves dialogue and discernment," according to the CEV.

Under the title "The Truth Will Set You Free" (cf. Jn 8:31), the bishops reiterated their call to the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE, by its Spanish acronym) "so that, in accordance with what is established in the constitution and the laws, it publishes in detail the results of the electoral process carried out on July 28 in which the will of the Venezuelan people for change was evident."

Since the presidential election in which the CNE declared Nicolás Maduro president-elect, despite numerous irregularities and accusations of fraud by the opposition and numerous actors in the international community, the bishops have published up to five messages addressed to the country in which they emphasized that "the truth, even if sought to be hidden, or reduced to the opinion of a few, prevails" (cf. Mk 4:22).

"The presentation of the results is an essential step to maintain the citizens' confidence in the vote and to recover the true meaning of politics. Only in this way can we move forward together toward the construction of a democratic Venezuela in peace," the bishops' statement adds.

The prelates sharply criticized the repression by the state security agencies against peaceful demonstrations as well as "arbitrary arrests and violations of human rights that occurred after the elections" and demanded the release of those detained, "among whom are minors."

The country's bishops say they feel challenged by the cry of the people and renewed their commitment to all those who suffer, accompanying them in prayer and the services provided by the Catholic Church through its different agencies. "We reaffirm our commitment to be at their side in these difficult times," they said.

Finally, they called on people not to lose hope, looking to Jesus and promoting different prayer initiatives "to pray for peace and the well-being of Venezuela."

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

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CNA Staff, Oct 22, 2024 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

A special Mass in Los Angeles last week celebrated the "missionary spirit" of children in the U.S., with hundreds of youth gathering to mark the efforts of the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) and its work in turning children into champions of the faith. 

The Los Angeles Missionary Childhood Association held its annual Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Oct. 16 "to honor the contributions of local youth in supporting underserved children worldwide," the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said in a press release.

The MCA, also known as the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood, is tasked with "developing a spirit and a missionary leadership" among children, one that "drives them to share the faith and material benefits, especially with children who are most in need."

It is one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, an umbrella group of Catholic missionary groups under the pope's authority.

The MCA encourages children to "pray every day for the other children and for the spread of the Gospel message." It also works to help children become evangelists and spread the Catholic faith.

Financial contributions, meanwhile, are collected by local and national chapters and sent to a universal fund at the Vatican "to be redistributed to millions of needy children in every corner of the world."

Alixandra Holden, the director of the Missionary Childhood Association in the United States, told CNA the organization's motto is "Children helping children."

The MCA works with diocesan mission offices, she said, to promote "parish education, material and prayerful support for the missions," and other evangelization efforts. Every U.S. diocese has a mission office — though they may be called different names — and many promote the MCA's work and help raise funds for its efforts. 

"We're tasked at the end of each Mass to go out and tell all nations," Holden said. "We want to bring the stories of the Church to the children in our schools." 

The MCA's primary task, she said, is "education" of the Catholic faith and of the need to help and serve disadvantaged children around the world.

"We want to show kids they still have the ability to help around the world, through their prayers and sacrifices," she said.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese said this month that fundraisers over the past year raised $85,855.19 for the cause.

That money will go in part toward funding the Diocesan Center for Children Development and the Next Generation Home in Ghana, "where hundreds of children living in the streets are provided meals and education, and whenever possible, reintegration with their families," the archdiocese said.

On its website, meanwhile, the Pontifical Mission Societies points to MCA projects that include the repainting of a parish school in Chad, a poultry farming project in Zambia, and child faith formation efforts in Bangladesh, among others.

The roots of the association, Holden said, go back to the 19th century, when French Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson consulted with Pauline Jaricot, the foundress of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, on how to inspire missionary zeal in children. 

"For the last 200 years this has been growing into what it is today, which is really lived through the children of the U.S. and European countries," Holden said. 

At the center of the work is an effort to ensure children are both catechized in the faith and ready to follow the Christian mandate of service to others.

On the Vatican's website, the organization says it promotes "children praying for children, children evangelizing children, children helping children worldwide."

"We need to educate them on what their capabilities are," Holden said, "and who is out there, and who our brothers and sisters are that we need to show love for."

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