VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II urged that the truth
be told about crimes committed against the Catholic Church in Guatemala,
particularly the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi.
When he received
the Guatemalan bishops on their "ad limina" visit to Rome, the Pope this morning
encouraged them to foster national reconciliation in the wake of the 36-year
civil war.
The Holy Father applauded the local Church's efforts in its
"search for harmonious and peaceful coexistence, based on the values of
reconciliation, justice, solidarity and liberty."
"When it is
necessary," John Paul II said, "do not refuse to denounce injustice and propose
principles of a moral character, which will also guide action in civil life."
Most of Guatemala's 12.6 million people are Catholic, and the Church had
a key role in the 1996 peace agreements which ended the war that cost 150,000
lives.
A generation earlier, in 1976, Guatemala was the object of a
campaign, launched with the support of military men and politicians, such as
dictator Efrain Rios Montt and President Jorge Serrano Elias, to promote
conversions to Protestant denominations. U.S. groups funded the campaign.
That effort inspired a campaign against the Catholic Church, which cost
the life of many catechists and Church figures. Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi of
Guatemala City, a defender of human rights, was killed April 26, 1998.
His murder occurred just hours after the publication of a report that
blamed the army for most of the human-rights abuses committed during the war.
Three military men, a priest and a parish cook are on trial for the murder.
The Bishop of Rome, who visited Guatemala in 1983 and 1996, said: "The
Church in Guatemala has witnessed the spilling of blood of many of her children.
In addition to the legitimate effort to reveal the truth about these execrable
crimes, among which is that of Monsignor Juan Gerardi Conedera, auxiliary bishop
of Guatemala, killed three years ago now, it is urgent to recall his memory as
an 'example of limitless dedication to the cause of the Gospel.'"
He
continued: "I now wish to render warm and merited homage to the hundreds of
catechists who, together with some priests, risked their lives and even offered
it for the Gospel. With their blood they made the blessed soil of Guatemala
forever fruitful.
"Imitating Mary's courage and integrity, they
conquered through the blood of the Lamb and through their witness, without
[allowing] the love of their life to make them fear death."
The Church
must not only denounce injustices, the Pope added; above all, it must promote
justice.
He said that the spread of the "social doctrine of the Church
acquires the dimension of a real pastoral priority, both to adequately address
the different situations with a good conscience, illuminated by faith, as well
as to foment and guide the laity's commitment in public life."
Lastly,
the Pope appealed to the Guatemalan bishops to make "an effort to evangelize all
those with responsibilities in the different areas of public administration." He
added: "As the Gospel also has something to say to them, it is necessary to help
them discover that Jesus' message is also valuable and pertinent in the work
they do."
ROME, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Sun
Myung Moon recruited Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo because the Korean's
sect is in decline and needs a famous figure to help it break into Africa, says
a specialist on new religions.
Massimo Introvigne, director of the
Center of Research Studies on New Religions, in an article in the Italian
newspaper Avvenire, said he believes that
Moon did everything in his power to attract Milingo and make him his point man
for Africa.
Milingo, 70, the former archbishop of Lusaka, on Sunday
married a 43-year-old acupuncturist in a group wedding conducted by Moon in New
York. The next day the Vatican said Milingo had "placed himself outside the
Catholic Church" and was no longer considered a bishop.
Introvigne, one
of the world's leading experts on sects and new religious movements, said the
Reverend Moon's financial and media empire is doing well, but his sect is in
decline in the religious sense. Hence, Milingo was a great "new catch,"
Introvigne contended.
"Moon was losing followers and is no longer much
in the news," Introvigne noted. Given this stagnation, Moon saw in Milingo a
unique media opportunity, said Introvigne.
Yet what can an ordinary
African prelate and a Korean proclaiming himself the "second messiah" have in
common?
"Anyone who has followed Milingo in the last few years," said
Introvigne, "has noted a tendency toward positions that are typical of that
current of the U.S. Protestant world called pre-millenarianism, which predicts
the carrying-off of the elect to heaven following apocalyptic events, the
manifestation of the Antichrist, and the thousand-year reign on earth of the
faithful with Jesus."
This theology is accompanied by the "devaluation
of celibacy," and has the "evangelical" ambit as background, which is prevalent
in the United States and the Moon movement, Introvigne added.
In
Milingo's press statement there were "theological derivations -- such as Satan's
blood, which is also poured in the Church and must be purified -- which are
very, very similar to Moon's speeches in internal circles," Introvigne
explained.
He added that The Unification Church founded by Moon no
longer exists. Moon announced that it had a 40-year life cycle; having been born
in 1954, it has been dissolved for seven years.
Introvigne said that two
very diverse groups remain active: the Family Federation for World Peace and
Unification, composed of all those who at any given time adhere to Moon's
cultural ends, and do not leave their original religion (an intention expressed
by Milingo); and the Church of Families for Unification, embracing those who
really think Moon is the messiah.
Some, like former President George H.
Bush, look favorably on Moon, because he is the media magnate who "plays a
political role of the right, in contrast to a great part of the U.S. press,
which has a different line," Introvigne said.
Now the challenge for Moon
is to translate the media success attained with Milingo, Introvigne speculated.
"There are political men, for example, South Americans, who are happy to
shake his hand because of the political support that Moon entails, but not much
more," Introvigne said. The same thing could happen to Moon this time, he added.
Moon will try to launch his movement with Milingo in Africa, where it
already exists but is small, Introvigne speculated.
In that continent,
religion is "hot," Introvigne said, adding, "Milingo will certainly be used to
spread the movement, but I wonder if he will have results."
VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- A new edition of the historical
Blaj Bible was presented today, part of an effort to foster reconciliation
between the Catholic and Romanian Orthodox Churches.
The Blaj
translation was made in 1795 with Cyrillic characters by Samuil Micu, a monk who
belonged to the Romanian Church united to Rome. Catholics and Orthodox used it
for a long time.
Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, prefect of the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches, presented the Bible at the Vatican Press
Office.
"Let's hope that the Blaj Bible, reprinted with so much care,
will help the dialogue with the Orthodox Church, which has its roots in the same
living source of the Word of God and the Eastern Tradition," the cardinal said.
The new Blaj Bible was published on the third anniversary of John Paul
II's visit to Romania, when he became the first Bishop of Rome to set foot on
Orthodox soil.
GENOA, Italy, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- He has condemned globalization
when seems like a new form of colonialism, and thundered against the risks of
exploitation.
Yet, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Genoa, is
extending a hand to the G-8 summit which will be held here in July.
Anti-globalization movements plan to mobilize in Genoa, and the city is
abuzz with talk of the mayhem that could result at the summit of the seven major
industrialized countries and Russia.
Given the above, special attention
was focused on Cardinal Tettamanzi's address during the annual pilgrimage to the
Shrine of Our Lady of Protection, a time when the local Church and members of
the labor world traditionally cross paths.
During his homily which
focused on work, Cardinal Tettamanzi often quoted John Paul II.
"What is
needed," the cardinal said, "is the conviction that work, which we need to live
and to be men, must be safeguarded from the many new and old snares that
incessantly threaten it, if not in its existence, certainly in its dignity and
quality. And today, among these snares, are also those related to the
globalization process."
The relation between work and globalization is
difficult, he said.
"It is a decidedly new, ambivalent phenomenon with
many implications, with light and dark traces and, in any case, with very
important repercussions on the life of individuals and peoples," the archbishop
of Genoa emphasized.
Cardinal Tettamanzi said he fears that work will
become one more commodity, "an object of purchase at the lowest possible price,
in the great bazaar known as the global village."
"In this way, new
exploitation risks come into being," he warned, "especially harsh for the
poorest peoples, who are the majority of humanity, but also visible among
ourselves."
The cardinal made a proposal: "As work is the weak link in
the economic and financial chain, at this stage of globalization it must be
safeguarded and protected."
During the pilgrimage, the cardinal
encouraged businessmen and entrepreneurs to try to put into practice that "way
of doing business that keeps the human factor in mind." The labor unions
applauded his words.
MADRID, Spain, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Contemporary culture fears to
hear about "truth," says Cardinal Paul Poupard.
"Truth is too strong a
word for our ears, which are accustomed to weak thought," the president of the
Pontifical Council for Culture told a conference Monday at San Pablo-CEU
University.
"To speak of truth in contemporary culture is a provocation
and challenge," the French cardinal said. "It seems as though to seek truth is a
chimera or an impossible, quixotic enterprise."
In the wake of the
recent extraordinary consistory of cardinals, he said, "We have two great
challenges in the cultural realm -- the first, to proclaim the Gospel in an
increasingly pluralist world, conquering two great temptations: the first, fear
of the other, and closing in on oneself, which gives way to fundamentalism, [or
the reverse], a very immoderate desire to understand and open oneself to the
other, which implies the loss of one's own identity."
"As Peter, the
first Pontiff, said: 'We must know how to give reasons for our hope with
gentleness and respect,'" Cardinal Poupard said.
"The second great
challenge," he added, "is evangelization of originally Christian countries, with
the appearance of a new generation that has not received Christian formation and
has no information. For them, the Gospel is not news, but rather something
foreign or strange."
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. Supreme Court today
allowed the removal of a granite monument of the Ten Commandments from the front
of a city hall in Indiana, letting stand a ruling that the display
unconstitutionally endorses religion, Reuters reported.
The justices
turned aside an appeal by the city of Elkhart, Indiana. The city had argued that
the monument, which contains the text of the Ten Commandments as part of a
larger civil display, did not violate church-state separation under the First
Amendment.
The Supreme Court action, in denying the appeal, does not set
a national precedent.
The monument has stood on the lawn outside of
Elkhart's City Hall since its donation by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a
service organization, in 1958 as part of a national program.
The city
defended the monument as a historical artifact and one of a number of displays
across the country depicting America's heritage.
Two Elkhart residents,
represented by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, sued the city in 1998 to get
rid of the monument near the building's main entrance.
BERLIN, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic Church has paid
$2,500 each to 120 people in Poland, Russia and Ukraine who were forced by the
Nazis to work for Church institutions.
The compensation payments come in
advance of those to be made by German industry to indemnify Nazism's forced
laborers. Last week, industry dropped its last objections to the $4.6 billion
government-industry fund. Parliament is still finalizing the legal
technicalities.
Last year the Church acknowledged that the Nazi regime
forced some people to work in its institutions, including hospitals and schools,
for no pay. The Church created its own fund of some $5 million for the
indemnification.
Half of the money will go to pay former forced
laborers; the remainder will be allocated to charitable works in the victims'
countries of origin.
The German bishops' conference estimated that one
in every 1,000 of Nazism's 8 million forced laborers was sent to Catholic Church
institutions.
SANTIAGO, Chile, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Chile has become the 109th
country to abolish the death penalty.
Using his presidential
prerogative, President Ricardo Lagos promulgated the law today, which had been
approved April 17 by Parliament.
The law abolishes capital punishment in
Chile, which had been in force for 126 years. It has been replaced by life
sentences, which must be served for at least 40 years.
Last week,
Ukraine abolished its death penalty; 87 countries still enforce capital
punishment.
VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Bishop James Lin Bingliang of
Guangzhou, China, died on May 25. He was 88.
Together with 20 priests,
some elderly, and 25 young nuns of the Congregation of the Immaculate, Bishop
Bingliang served the local Catholic community of 150,000 faithful.
Bishop Bingliang had been suffering from a respiratory ailment that
impeded his celebrating Mass. He was only able to celebrate on solemn occasions.
He never missed Mass, however, and listened in from the sacristy.
Named
a bishop in 1990, he fostered collaboration with the dioceses of Hong Kong and
Macao, the international agency Fides reported.
BEIJING, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Cheap, Chinese-made ultrasound
machines that detect the gender of unborn babies are leading to an increase in
sex-selective abortions and a boom in the male population of rural villages, the
Washington Post reports.
"Bachelor villages," inhabited predominantly by
men, dot parts of China's poorer regions, where a traditional bias in favor of
male offspring runs deep, the paper said today. Police researchers say crime has
grown among the millions of men of marrying age who cannot find wives.
The government criminalized sex-selective abortions in 1995, but that
hasn't kept the ratio of boys to girls from reaching 140 to 100 in some areas.
China has 41 million more males than females among its 1.2 billion people, up
10% from a 1997 estimate, researchers say.
Ultrasound machines first
appeared in China in the mid-1980s. Firms near Shanghai and in surrounding
Jiangsu province produce thousands of machines a year for less than $2,000
apiece.
"It's not one or two counties that have them," said Wu Cangping,
a senior demographer. "Every county has one. Even townships have them now."
LUSAKA, Zambia, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of a statement
by Zambian bishops issued today, in the wake of former Archbishop Emmanuel
Milingo's marriage Sunday in New York.
* * *
Statement from the
Catholic Bishops in Zambia on the defection of the former Archbishop Emmanuel
Milingo from the Catholic Church
We, the Catholic Bishops in Zambia are
deeply saddened and pained by the defection of Archbishop Milingo in his attempt
to marry in the Moon Sect. For a long time we have tried to reach out to
Archbishop Milingo, who has unfortunately rejected our regular and honest
advice. Other people in the Church, including the Holy Father, have tried to
reach out to him, but he took this advice as a form of persecution
(Mt,18:15-17). In spite of all the efforts made by us and others, he decided to
go on with his plan to marry, thereby turning his back on the Catholic Church.
By doing this, the former Archbishop has put himself outside the Catholic
Church. This implies that he is no longer a Bishop nor part of the Catholic
Church. The former Archbishop has betrayed his vows by attempting marriage while
still under his priestly commitments.
The defection of the former
Archbishop should not come as a surprise to us. Even among the apostles one of
them did fall. His act portrays his failure to abide by sound apostolic
tradition, which suddenly induced him not to perceive the advice from so many
and not to discern the truth. He rather portrayed the others as not
understanding his actions.
We feel deep sympathy for the many people who
put their trust in the former Archbishop and now feel betrayed and abandoned by
his action. A challenge for them now is to make a right choice by committing
themselves to follow Jesus Christ, who has the words of eternal life, rather
than anyone else (Jn 6:8). The action by the former archbishop is a reminder to
us of our own fragility in faith. It should therefore make us humble. Left to
ourselves, without deep faith in Christ, we remain fragile and open to sin.
However, the defection of any one of us does not change the Church of Jesus
Christ, as it continues to bring His teaching and sacraments to the world.
Finally, we invite all Christians to continue praying for the former
Archbishop in the hope that he will decide to repent and come back to the
Church.
VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Was Pius XII's "silence" during
World War II really a way of helping Jews more effectively?
This and
other questions are studied in a new book published in Italy, which offers
previously unpublished details.
"Pius XII, Pope of the Jews" ("Pio XII.
Papa degli ebrei," published by Piemme), was written by Andrea Tornielli,
Vatican correspondent for the Milanese newspaper Il Giornale. The author
reconstructs the debate around Pope Eugenio Pacelli.
The Jewish world
praised Pius XII in his lifetime and after his death. But his reputation has
been attacked following the publication of the 1960s play "The Vicar," and, more
recently, British writer John Cornwell's book "Hitler's Pope."
According
to the new book, Pius XII at one point told Father Pirro Scavizzi, a priest who
was gathering information on those persecuted by the Nazis: "After many tears
and many prayers, I decided that my protest would have stirred the most
ferocious anger against the Jews, multiplying cruel acts, as they are
defenseless. Perhaps my protests would have earned me the praise of the civil
world, but it would have caused the poor Jews an even more implacable
persecution than the one they were already suffering."
Below is a Vatican Radio interview with author
Andrea Tornielli.
--Q: How can Pius XII's silence be explained?
--Tornielli: The documents clearly show that the "silence was not really
silence." In the book, I quote all the passages of the radio messages in which
Pope Pacelli explicitly affirmed very clear issues. In any case, Pius XII did
not denounce Hitler publicly because he tried to save the greatest possible
number of human lives.
Thanks to his prudent attitude, the Church,
nuncios and the Vatican were able to save, as Jewish historian Pinchas Lapide
estimates, some 850,000 Jews from persecution and death.
--Q: One of the
most interesting aspects covered in the book is the one referring to a document
in which Pope Pacelli condemned Nazism; a document that he later preferred to
burn, after seeing what happened in Holland. Are there proofs of the existence
of this document?
--Tornielli: In 1942, the Pope was about to publish a
very strong document against the Nazis, against Hitler, against the persecution
of Jews, but he was profoundly affected by what happened in Holland. In that
country, following the bishops' protest, the persecutions against the Jews
worsened.
The proof of the existence of this document comes from many
witnesses, such as Sister Pasqualina Lehnert, Sister Konrada Grabmeier, Father
Robert Leiber, and also French Cardinal Eugčne Tisserant.
These
witnesses revealed that the Pope had written that document and that he decided
to burn it himself in the kitchen, and stayed until it was completely destroyed.
His distress over the Dutch case was so profound that he preferred to burn it
rather than cause further harm to the Jews.
--Q: You also mention
Pacelli's warning to Archbishop Theodor Innitzer of Vienna in 1938, when he was
still Vatican secretary of state.
--Tornielli: The Innitzer case is very
interesting, because that year this archbishop, together with other Austrian
prelates, had enthusiastically welcomed Hitler's arrival. Well, Eugenio Pacelli
and Pius XI called Innitzer urgently to Rome.
Pacelli was very
dispassionate and obliged Innitzer to sign a retraction in his presence, which
was published in L'Osservatore Romano. This demonstrates that both Pacelli and
the Pope, who at that time was Pius XI, rejected the position of the Austrian
Church.
--Q: You also speak about a plot against Hitler supported by
Pius XII.
--Tornielli: It's a very important case. In November 1939, and
the early months of 1940, some German generals attempted to bring down Hitler's
regime and institute democracy again. The Germans had the news reach Rome and
the Pope committed himself personally, at great risk, to take the steps to have
the news reach the English and American Allies. Then, those generals were unable
to do anything, but the Pope took an active part in this plan.
--Q: Why
is the Pope now being accused of coexisting with Nazism?
--Tornielli: a
real "black legend" has been created, which has nothing to do with the
historical discussion. One thing is to seriously debate on the Pope's attitude
and the reasons why he decided not to make a public denunciation; and another,
and very different, is to try to make him a scapegoat.
This is what has
been done to Pius XII. It must be recognized that the Pope did everything
possible, while others did not do what they could have done.
--Q: In
doing your research, what action of Pius XII impressed you most?
--Tornielli: There are many actions: the negotiations he carried out,
using all possible and imaginable channels to stop the inspection of Jews in
Rome's ghettos, the precise instructions given to the nuncios, without
forgetting the fact that he himself sold family assets, and sent the money to
the nuncios to alleviate the sufferings of the Jews.
In addition, Pope
Pacelli's revelation to Father Pirro Scavizzi, the chaplain who went through
Europe gathering news on the persecuted, is important. Pius XII said: "Tell them
that the Pope suffers with them, he suffers with the persecuted and that, if at
times he doesn't raise his voice more, it is only not to cause worse evils."