In surprise ‘mercy Friday’ visit, Pope Francis blesses homes of Rome’s poor

Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań. / Polish Bishops’ Conference.

Warsaw, Poland, Jun 25, 2021 / 03:45 am (CNA).

Catholic bishops have criticized the European Parliament’s declaration that abortion is “essential healthcare” and conscientious objection should be redefined as a “denial of medical care.”

Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference, said that the European Parliament’s vote in favor of the Matić Report signaled that the European Union was embracing “a culture of death and exclusion.”

“I am deeply saddened by the European Parliament resolution calling for the possibility of killing unborn children,” the archbishop of Poznań wrote on his Twitter account June 24.

“The culture of life envisaged by the Founding Fathers of the EU is turning into a culture of death and exclusion, with ideology taking precedence over reason.”

Bishop Kevin Doran noted that every Irish member of the European Parliament (MEP) voted in favor of the report.

Writing on social media, he said: “Very disappointing to see [that] every Irish MEP voted today against the right to freedom of conscience which is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in favour of the non-existent human right to abortion. God bless our healthcare professionals.”

In a press release issued after the vote, the European Parliament said that MEPs regretted that some EU states have “a so-called conscience clause” recognizing the right of medical practitioners not to participate in abortions.

“This leads to the denial of abortion care on the grounds of religion or conscience and puts women’s lives in danger,” it said.

The press release quoted Predrag Fred Matić, the Croatian politician who presented the report to the European Parliament, as saying: ‘‘This vote marks a new era in the European Union and the first real resistance to a regressive agenda that has trampled on women’s rights in Europe for years.’’

Members of the European Parliament, the EU’s law-making body, voted by 378 votes in favor, 255 against, and 42 abstentions, to adopt the report at a plenary session in Brussels, Belgium.

In addition to describing abortion as an “essential” health service and rejecting conscientious objection, the report declares that violations of “sexual and reproductive health and rights” are “a form of violence against women and girls.”

Only two of the EU’s 27 member states — Poland and Malta — do not permit abortion on demand or on broad social grounds.

The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), an NGO based in Strasbourg, France, suggested that the report’s supporters were seeking “to introduce a new norm without it appearing at first sight to be imposed.”

It said: “The choice of the institution in this strategy is not to be underestimated, because although the resolutions of the European Parliament have no binding legal value, they are the expression of an opinion that the Parliament wishes to make known.”

“A resolution may subsequently serve to politically legitimize action by the member states or the institutions; it is intended to produce practical effects.”

“More importantly, it can express a pre-legislative intention that can later be used to justify binding acts. There is, therefore, no doubt that an act of the European Parliament represents the gateway to the heart of the normative system.”

CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported that the group Christian Democrats for Life criticized the European Parliament vote.

It said that “the spirit of the Christian founding fathers of the European Union is turned into the absolute opposite by this decision, which will certainly lead to a further inner turning away from Europe among many citizens of the Union.”

The initiative Maria 1.0 also deplored the vote, saying that the European Parliament’s appeal for access to “safe and legal abortions” in the EU “borders on the cruelest barbarism.”

David Sassoli, the president of the European Parliament, is expected to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday.

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Rome, Italy, Sep 5, 2018 / 10:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, Mother Teresa’s impact did not come from her outward appearance, but from a personal encounter with the woman’s unconditional and mother-like love and acceptance.

According to the Missionary of Charity, Mother Teresa’s greatness defied her short stature, residing “inside” her. Upon meeting Mother Teresa for the first time, Sr. Prema told CNA / EWTN, “It was not appearance, but it was the way she related to me,” that was most striking. “That was an experience of a person who loves, and who accepts me, and who wants me, and is a mother to me.”

When “I saw her the first time she was already 70 years old, so she was already a little bent, but her eyes were full of life,” Sr. Prema said.

Sr. Prema was in her late 20s when she first met Mother Teresa in Berlin, Germany in 1980. She said she was inspired to meet the foundress of the Missionaries of Charity after reading the biography of her life, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. “I was impressed by the simplicity of life the sisters were having in Calcutta and I could not forget about it,” Sr. Prema said.

After this encounter with Mother Teresa, Sr. Prema continued to feel called to join the Missionaries of Charity. “Then slowly, as I became richer in my prayer life, I knew that I wanted to give all, all for Jesus,” she said. “And I didn’t look for a congregation where I could compromise, having things for myself or conveniences, but I wanted to follow Jesus in this radical way of life.”  

Elected to the position of Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity on March 24, 2009, Sr. Prema is the second to take over the order after Mother Teresa’s death in 1997.

For Mother Teresa, Sr. Prema shared, there was not only much physical suffering in the world, but also an invisible and deep spiritual suffering, found “in sin, in addiction to sinful behavior.”

Spiritual suffering is a “real deep, deep suffering,” Sr. Prema said. “For those who are in the blindness of sin, but also for those who are suffering the consequences of those sins.”

The solution, to Mother Teresa, was simply to love Jesus and to practice mercy. “Mercy was like a second nature to Mother because of the love she had for Jesus. And she invited everybody to put their hands, and especially their heart, to love.”

To those thinking they may be called to a vocation to the religious or priesthood, Sr. Prema shared, “Do not be afraid to love and to give yourself.”

And for everyone, Sr. Prema reminded, “Let us not be in a hurry and in a rush to complete things and projects and plans and become deprived of what is really making us human, which is to love and to be loved.”

This article was originally published Aug. 15, 2016. Mary Shovlain contributed to this report.

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London, England, Jul 14, 2017 / 09:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The American doctor whose experimental treatment has been sought by the parents of Charlie Gard will travel to London on Monday, after a judge ruled that he could examine the baby and confer with the UK doctors.

On Friday, the specialist in mitochondrial diseases and genetic myopathies agreed to travel to examine Charlie in-person at the Great Ormand Street Hospital in London.

The neurologist testified via video July 13 that he believes the 11-month-old has at least a 10 percent chance of improving under his treatment, and possibly as high as a 56 percent chance.

The doctor, Michio Hirano, whose name was revealed after a court order was lifted Friday, is a professor of neurology at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York. He is the doctor overseeing the therapy trial Charlie’s parents had sought to join before being denied by the hospital and courts.

Friday’s development comes one week after Great Ormond Street Hospital applied for a new hearing with the high court, citing new evidence suggesting the critically ill baby could benefit from an experimental treatment.  

A team of seven international medical experts had alerted the hospital that fresh, unpublished data suggested that an experimental drug could improve Charlie’s brain condition.

“Two international hospitals and their researchers have communicated to us as late as the last 24 hours that they have fresh evidence about their proposed experimental treatment,” a hospital spokesman said, according to the BBC.

“We believe, in common with Charlie’s parents, it is right to explore this evidence,” they continued.

“Great Ormond Street Hospital is giving the High Court the opportunity to objectively assess the claims of fresh evidence…It will be for the High Court to make its judgment on the facts.”

Charlie has been diagnosed with mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic disease believed to affect just 16 children in the world. The disease causes progressive muscle weakness and can cause death in the first year of life.

In recent weeks, Charlie’s case has drawn international attention due to the various legal battles that his parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, have fought in an attempt to save their son’s life.

Charlie’s parents had initially sought to take their son to the United States for the experimental treatment. They had raised more than $1 million to cover the costs of travel and medical expenses.

However, the hospital sought to block their request, citing his poor quality of life. Britain’s High Court agreed, saying that the experimental therapy could cause suffering and would only prolong the process of dying. It would be in Charlie’s best interest to be removed from life support, the court said.

His parents responded that even a small chance of success was worth pursuing, and said that even if their son could not live, they hoped that taking part in the experimental trial could provide the research that would help other children with his condition live in the future.

The European Court of Human Rights rejected an appeal from Charlie’s parents, who were also denied their request to take their son home from the hospital to die.

Both the Vatican pediatric hospital and Pope Francis have expressed their support for Charlie.

“The Holy Father follows with affection and emotion the story of Charlie Gard and expresses his own closeness to his parents,” read a July 2 statement issued by Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

“He prays for them, wishing that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected.”

On June 30, the day the Charlie’s life support was initially scheduled to be disconnected, the Pope also used his Twitter account to send a clear pro-life message in the infant’s favor:

“To defend human life, above all when it is wounded by illness, is a duty of love that God entrusts to all.”

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