Video shows ISIS destroying Catholic church, threatening Rome

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Nov 6, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Police in Papua New Guinea are moving sick refugees and migrants out of the capital city in preparation for a major economic conference, drawing ongoing criticism from the country’s Catholic leaders.

The refugees and migrants are being sent back to Manus Island off the northern coast of the country, where asylum seekers trying to reach Australia are being housed in poor conditions.

The Australian government has sent hundreds of asylum seekers to the island for processing since 2012, and around 70 men had been taken to Port Moresby, the capital, for medical treatment.

As many as 10 of the men being moved had not finished their treatment, but were told they would return in a month to complete it, Guardian Australia reported. One man reportedly attempted suicide after he was told he would be sent back to Manus Island without treatment.

Authorities are justifying the move by saying that the city’s hospital is needed for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference delegates and conference employees who may need medical treatment. APEC is scheduled to begin meetings in Port Moresby Nov. 12.

The Papua New Guinea Bishop’s Conference recently called for all the refugees and asylum seekers to be brought to Australia by Dec. 25, saying that their country cannot continue to provide adequate care.

“We are deeply concerned that the human rights of the refugees and asylum seekers have been breached as they were forcibly sent to [Papua New Guinea]; and Australia’s policies has caused us reputational damage,” a panel convened by the bishops wrote Nov. 1.

“We, the participants are speaking on behalf of the women and children on Manus who are the victims of Australia’s policies. The men have suffered enough from prolonged detention. Enough is enough. The time has come to let them go.”

About 650 migrant and refugee men are currently living on Manus Island, according to The Guardian. Conditions are bad, according to Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish Iranian journalist, who said the men are suffering widely from mental and physical illness. The conditions at the camps have been condemned by Church leaders and human rights groups.

Australia has had a system of “third country processing” since 2012 for asylum seekers who come to Australia by boat without a valid visa. The system transfers the asylum seekers to other countries, where they are processed based on that country’s laws.

Many of those seeking asylum in Australia come from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Iran, travelling by boat from Indonesia. They are typically intercepted by the Australian navy before reaching land, and are then sent to detention camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, a small Micronesian nation.

The government of Australia made an agreement with the government of Papua New Guinea in 2013, providing that migrants sent to Papua New Guinea from Australia would be settled there if they are found to be refugees. Otherwise they would be sent back to their country of origin or another country where they have legal residence.

Papua New Guinea is facing a medication shortage, an outbreak of polio, increased rates of tuberculosis, and funding crises in health and education, according to The Guardian.

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CNA Staff, Jan 6, 2021 / 05:19 pm (CNA).- Filippino churches and authorities will limit attendance for the Masses of the Black Nazarene – one of the country’s largest series of events, which usually gathers millions of people to Manila each year.

The Quiapo Church has instilled a 400-person cap for each of the 15 Masses that will take place on the Jan. 9 feast. This means only 6,000 will be able to attend services inside.

The parish is currently operating under the general community quarantine restrictions, which require religious services to limit capacity to 30 percent. Church officials attempted to expand the capacity to 50% but were denied.

“I hope we can just consider allowing at least 50 percent for more people to be accommodated inside the church and we are making sure that there is social distancing inside,” Fr. Douglas Badong, assistant pastor of Quiapo Church, told ABS-CBN.

For those who are not able to attend Mass inside Quiapo Church, large screens will be displayed outside the church so devotees unable to attend Mass can view it.

Instead of kissing the statue, a practice also known as pahalik, attendees will be able to venerate and pray with the statue, which will be visible on the church’s balcony.

“Instead of pahalik, there’s what we call paying tribute. We put the image of the Nazarene outside so people can pay a visit 24/7 wave their handkerchiefs as tribute to the Black Nazarene,” Badong said, according to ABS-CBN.

The priest discouraged attendees from bringing large replicas of the statue, which, in the past, have been processed on trucks. He said smaller images were fine.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, apostolic administrator of the Manila archdiocese, will celebrate the first Mass at 4:30 a.m. and Msgr. Hernando Coronel, rector of Quiapo Church, will preside over the last Mass at 10:15 p.m.

According to the authorities, people under the age of 15 or over the age of 65 will not be allowed to attend, CNS reported.

Church officials are working with government authorities to help stop the spread of the virus, such as the development of quick response codes to track outbreaks. Father Badong encouraged devotees to participate in the event safely and with compassion for others.

“Let’s observe discipline and care for each other. Don’t be overcome by stubbornness on this day,” he told ABS-CBN. “Even though there’s no procession, the celebration continues. We can only count on the Black Nazarene.”

Known as the traslacion, the 19-hour procession through the streets of Manila takes place each year on Jan. 9. Millions of pilgrims take part in the 7-kilometer procession.

In October, civil and ecclesial authorities in the Philippines agreed to cancel the Black Nazarene celebration in 2021.

The statue of the Black Nazarene is a kneeling Christ cloaked in a maroon robe and crowned with thorns. The life-sized statue bears a cross.

It was brought to the Philippines by Augustinian missionary priests in 1606. The statue is believed to have acquired its black color after being partially burnt when the ship carrying it caught fire on a voyage from Mexico.

Since then it has survived fires that destroyed its host church twice, two earthquakes, floods from numerous typhoons and bombings during World War II. The image is normally enshrined in Manila’s Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, popularly known as the Quiapo Church. Many miracles have been reported in connection with veneration of the statue.

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CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2021 / 03:00 am (CNA).- Cardinal Charles Maung Bo has said that “merciless killings” of protesters following a Feb. 1 military coup have turned Burma into a “21st-century Calvary.” In an Easter message posted on the Facebook page of… […]