Christopher Columbus murals to be covered up
Notre Dame university has decided to cover up its 19th-century murals depicting the arrival of Christopher Columbus because they are seen as demeaning to Native Americans. The murals “reflect the attitudes of the time”, said university president Fr John Jenkins, but in recent years many have come to see them as “at best blind to the consequences of Columbus’s voyage for the indigenous peoples who inhabited this ‘new’ world and at worst demeaning toward them”. They were “not intended to slight indigenous peoples, but to encourage another marginalised group,” Catholic immigrants, he said. High-res images of the murals will be displayed elsewhere in the university. (See page 12.)
New York celebrates liberalisation of abortion law
The spire of New York’s One World Trade Center has been lit pink to celebrate legislation allowing abortion up to birth.
The law also allows non-doctors to perform abortions and repeals legislation recognising unborn babies over 24 weeks as potential homicide victims. Governor Andrew Cuomo (right), a Catholic, signed the bill last week.
Other buildings in state capital Albany were also lit pink. the state’s bishops decried the move, saying the state had become “a more dangerous one for women and their unborn babies”. They thanked all who allied with the Church “in the 12-year-long fight to stop this horrendous policy”.
Bishops sceptical about women deacons
A survey of 108 US bishops found that two thirds do not believe women should be ordained deacons. A survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found that only 33 per cent supported such a change.
But the survey did not closely distinguish between “ordaining” in a loose sense of “appointing” and the technical sense of “ordaining through the sacrament of Holy Orders”. Bishops described the latter option as impossible. One told the survey, “It would be necessary to state that the diaconate does not pertain to Holy Orders.” Women cannot be priests, so if Holy Orders are united, that means they could only be deacons in a limited sense. Another said that making women deacons “would sow confusion” and “undermine the sacramental understanding of Holy Orders”.
Catholic church inaugurated in Cuba
The first Catholic church to be built since the 1959 communist revolution in Cuba was inaugurated on Saturday. Fidel Castro (right) clamped down on religion, closing parochial schools and sending priests to re-education camps. But following Pope St John Paul II’s visit to Cuba in 1998 Christmas was restored as a holiday and Catholics began to worship openly.
The construction of the 200-seat church, in the west of the
island, was largely funded by St Lawrence Church in Tampa, Florida. “To see this finished is like coming out of the night into the day,” said Fr Cirilo Castro, the Cuban priest who oversaw the building of the church. “We knew it would happen one day.”
Theology professor is appointed as Archbishop of Lima
A theology professor has been named Archbishop of Lima, succeeding Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, who led the archdiocese for 20 years.
Fr Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, who teaches at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, is said to be a friend of Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez, regarded as the founder of liberation theology. Among Fr Castillo’s books is Walking in Love, a tribute to the late Cardinal Juan Landázuri Ricketts. Cardinal Cipriani reached the retirement age of 75 in December.
Venezuelan bishops back opposition
venezuelan bishops have given their support to peaceful demonstrations for opposition leader Juan Guaido and against President Nicolás Maduro. The Justice and Peace Commission of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference said the opposition-led National Assembly was “elected by the free and democratic vote of the Venezuelan people” and “is currently the sole organ of public authority with the legitimacy to exercise its powers with sovereignty”. The bishops denounced “violent repression, arbitrary detentions, cruel treatment, and the use of firearms and toxic substances to control peaceful demonstrations”.
Pro-abortion Irish politician ‘refused Communion’
an irish politician who voted to repeal Ireland’s abortion law in the referendum last May has reportedly been refused Communion.
Robert Troy, Fianna Fáil TD for Longford and Westmeath was attending Requiem Mass at St Nicholas’s Church in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, early in January. Parish priest Fr John Hogan withheld the Host from him, according to the Sunday Times.
Mr Troy said in December: “I’m comfortable with my faith – I don’t have to agree with everything they preach.”
Canon law says that those “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion”.
Several Irish bishops have urged Catholics who voted for repeal to go to Confession.
Pope expected to visit Japan
Pope Francis has announced that he will visit Japan in November. He had hoped to go there as a missionary when he first became a priest. He has spoken in admiration of the Jesuit missionaries to Japan in the 16th century, and of those who were martyred; his visit would almost certainly include the 26 Martyrs Museum and Monument in Nagasaki (pictured), where Christians were killed in 1597. He is also expected to speak of the dangers of nuclear weapons.
20 killed at Mass
At least 20 people were killed and 111 injured last Sunday when two bombs exploded during Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the southern Philippine island of Jolo. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, which bishops called “an act of terrorism”.
Cause of Spanish woman goes to Rome
The cause of a young woman who died to defend her virginity has completed its diocesan phase and been sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican. If approved, she could be declared Venerable, the first step towards canonisation.
Marta Obregón died in 1992 defending her virginity from a man known as the “elevator rapist” in Burgos, north Spain. She was 22, and returning home from prayer before the Blessed Sacrament at the Opus Dei centre in Burgos. Her body was found six days later, with 14 stab wounds.
Her life was “a testimony and reference for the young people of today”, said Mgr Fidel Herráiz.
Asia Bibi’s acquittal upheld
asia bibi, a Catholic woman accused of blasphemy in a case which divided Pakistan, may be able to leave the country after having her acquittal upheld by the Supreme Court. She is expected to find asylum abroad.
In Indonesia, meanwhile, a Christian politician has been released at the end of a two-year prison sentence for blasphemy. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, was governor of Jakarta from 2014 to 2017. He was convicted of blasphemy after saying his political opponents had misused a verse from the Koran.
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