Italian bishops’ conference establishes national center for youth protection

Valencia, Spain, Jun 13, 2018 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Valencia, Spain is preparing resources for more than 600 immigrants on board a rescue boat that was denied entry into Italy this week.

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia said God is calling the local people to welcome the immigrants.

“We can’t let these people who are suffering be stranded.”

On June 11, the government of Italy refused entrance to 629 immigrants on board the Aquarius, a humanitarian aid vessel operated by SOS Mediterranée and Doctors Without Borders, two groups that rescue immigrants on small vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.

Among the passengers are 123 children and seven pregnant women.

The government of Spain has offered to receive the immigrants – mainly sub-Saharan Africans – and is opening the port of Valencia for their arrival.

After hearing this news, Cardinal Cañizares launched a coordination office to connect the immigrants with resources from the archdiocese.

The network includes charities, parishes, and diocesan schools, as well as aid groups that are already involved in helping immigrants in the city.

In an interview with the TreceTv network, Cardinal Cañizares explained that “in cooperation with the public administration,” they have made available “buildings, homes, personnel to help with everything that may be needed.”

“We stand ready, simply, so that these poor people who have had to leave their homeland and go through so many calamities on the Mediterranean, that when they reach us they feel welcome and treated as persons, with every effort made to help them,” the cardinal said.

Besides providing for basic needs, Cardinal Cañizares said he hopes the immigrants find “great affection and love.”

According to media outlets, the immigrants will undergo a medical examination after arriving in Valencia. The authorities will then determine whether they will be classified as refugees or undocumented immigrants without proper legal status. Categorization as a refugee allows for lodging without police supervision and a small monetary allowance.

According to Cardinal Cañizares, the Red Cross will be in charge of the first phase of care, then after that the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and the diocese’s Caritas and immigration services will take over.

“Starting next week, we will collaborate on the more specific aspects of receiving them, not only basic but also ongoing needs, such as education and foster care,” he said.

The local Church will also help in offering healthcare services, as many of the immigrants may be in poor health from their countries of origin or their time on the Mediterranean Sea.

“Europe is very privileged, [it] can share what it has and it can share more of what it does,” the cardinal said.

Noting the Christian roots of Europe, he stressed that “we cannot hide that, without incurring the betrayal of Europe itself.”
 

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CNA Staff, Dec 4, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- A Vatican archbishop expressed “grave concern” Thursday at the rise in attacks on believers praying in places of worship.

In a Dec. 3 address to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Eur… […]

Paris, France, Feb 21, 2017 / 02:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A French diocese announced that Dominican Sister Marie Bernardette, the oldest sister in her order, passed away last week at 110 years of age.

The religious sister died Feb. 13, according to the Diocese of Aire-et-Dax, France.

Funeral rites for the beloved sister were held in the monastery chapel in the town of Dax where she lived. Sister Marie Bernardette had turned 110 on January 5. She would have been a religious sister for 90 years on April 18.

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The religious sister had spent 44 years at the Dax convent, near Bayonne. She lived through two world wars and was able to see 10 popes.

Sister Marie Bernardette was born Jan. 5, 1907 in Orsanco, a small village in French Basque Country. Her parents named her “Gracious,” and she was one of 12 children. Three of her sisters would also go on to become religious sisters.

Last year, the French Catholic newspaper La Croix featured the sister in an article. In that piece, Prioress Sister Véronique explained that age has changed Sister Marie-Bernadette’s tasks: “When she could no longer do house work, she made rosaries. And since she can’t make them anymore, she prays (the rosary) all day” in French, Latin and Basque.

“She prays a lot for the pope, for vocations and for our order,” the prioress said.

At the Dax monastery, the Dominican sisters lead a life of prayer, contemplation and also do sewing and baking to support themselves.

In 2016, the Dominicans – whose formal name is the Order of Preachers – marked the 800th anniversary of their founding by Saint Dominic.

This order has produced many blesseds and saints, including Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint John Macias, Saint Vincent Ferrer, Pope Saint Pius V, and Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church.

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