Efforts build to repeal Uruguay’s controversial transgender law

Matamoros, Mexico, Jun 28, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Tania Vanessa Ávalos, the wife and mother of the migrants who died trying to cross into the US this week, has found strength in faith and prayer amid her grief, the local bishop has said.

Óscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, 25, and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria died June 23, drowning as they tried to cross the Rio Grande from Matamoros. Graphic images of their bodies floating on the riverbank circulated across the world after they were discovered.

The Salvadoran emigrants intended to apply for asylum in the US, but the international bridge from Matamoros was closed until Monday, so they chose to swim across the river, the New York Times reported.

According to the Times, the family had left their home, about 14 miles east of San Salvador, for economic reasons, and not to escape gang violence.

Tania, 21, is now at one of the migrant houses run by the Diocese of Matamoros.

Bishop Eugenio Andres Lira Rugarcia told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency: “I had the opportunity personally to talk with her and I can say I was edified by her witness.”

“She’s a woman of faith who indeed bears witness that that faith is making it possible for her to face this with Christian hope,” he said.

“She told me about the very painful, difficult moments she has gone through. But how, thanks be to God, she has sought in prayer consolation, light, and strength and I tell you that for me, talking to her has been a great witness, a witness of faith,” Bishop Lira added.

Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, is among the major transit areas for migrants seeking to enter the US.

Tamaulipas is one of Mexico’s most violent states, but Bishop Lira emphasized that nevertheless, the faithful of the Matamoros diocese have not stopped showing their solidarity with the migrants.

The prelate thanked the “good example and witness of good people who even in the most difficult moments of violence in this area risked their lives, held out a hand to the migrants and continue to do so. Thanks be to God, the violence has decreased – not so much in Reynosa – but it has in the other eight districts that make up the Diocese of Matamoros.”

The Bishop of Matamoros said that the deaths of Óscar and Valeria “needs to lead us all to reflect: we’re talking about human lives, about people, not numbers. About people with their story, with their dreams, their hopes.”

“This shows us the human face of the migrant,” he said.

“Something very important is to discover in the phenomenon of migration names and faces … because if not, we can sometimes just dwell on statistics, on cold numbers. And in reality, it’s about people, each person with their own identity, their needs,” Bishop Lira stated.

Migrants, he said, are people who are trying to “seek something better for themselves or for their family. And they are willing to leave their land, their home, and set out on a quite dangerous adventure.”

Bishop Lira encouraged migrants to discover that “in the journey they have followed since they left their homes until the present, as well as the rest of their lives, God has always walked with them. He always walks with us, he does not leave us alone. And in those most difficult times he reaches out a hand to us, even through the people round about us.”

“I would ask you always to look at things through the eyes of faith, of the hope that does not disappoint, above all the great hope of the eternity that awaits us,” he said.

He asked the rest of society “to be aware of what kind of world we are building, and for every one of us to try to do our part  in building a culture and a society that is able to recognize, respect, promote and defend life, the dignity and rights and also the duties of all people, without excluding anyone.”

“We need this so no one finds himself forced to leave his own land because of economic necessities or because of violence or damage to the environment, and so he can find in his own place what is necessary for his development. And in the event he makes the decision to migrate that he can do so with all the conditions that his human dignity and rights deserve,” Bishop Lira said.

[…]

Pope Francis address representatives of Canada’s indigenous peoples at the archbishop’s residence in Québec City. / Vatican Media

St. Louis, Mo., Jul 29, 2022 / 11:22 am (CNA).

In a brief address Friday to delegates representing nine indigenous nations of Canada, Pope Francis said he is returning home “greatly enriched” after his weeklong “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada, during which he publicly apologized several times for past abuses perpetrated by Catholics against the nation’s indigenous.

“​​I have come as a brother, to discover firsthand the good and bad fruit borne by members of the local Catholic family in the course of the years. I have come in a spirit of penance, to express my heartfelt pain at the wrong inflicted on you by not a few Catholics who supported oppressive and unjust policies in your regard,” the 85-year-old pope said, addressing the group gathered at the archbishop’s residence in Québec City.

The policies to which Pope Francis is referring relate to Canada’s residential school system, which during more than 100 years of operation worked to systematically stamp out indigenous culture and language, often by removing children from their families by force. Catholic organizations ran at least 60% of the government-funded schools.

“I have come as a pilgrim, despite my physical limitations, to take further steps forward with you and for you. I do this so that progress may be made in the search for truth, so that the processes of healing and reconciliation may continue, and so that seeds of hope can keep being sown for future generations — indigenous and non-indigenous alike — who desire to live together, in harmony, as brothers and sisters,” the pope continued.

He thanked the indigenous people for welcoming him to Canada. The 22 delegates in attendance Friday represented the Mi’kmaq, Algonquin, Mohawk, Cree, Innu, Atikamekw, Malecite, Abenaki, and Naskapi nations.

“I can truly say that, while I came to be with you, it was your life and experiences, the indigenous realities of these lands, that have touched me, remained with me, and will always be a part of me,” the vicar of Christ said.

“I dare say, if you will allow me, that now, in a certain sense, I also feel a part of your family, and for this, I am honored,” he added.

As he first did in his apology speech on Monday, Pope Francis again praised the importance that indigenous communities put on family and tradition. He also developed this theme on Tuesday on the feast of St. Anne, the patron saint of grandparents.

“In a world that, tragically, is often all too individualistic, how precious is your profoundly genuine sense of family and community. How important it is to cultivate properly the bond between young and old, and to maintain a healthy and harmonious relationship with all of creation!” the pope said.

Pope Francis continued his speech by highlighting the example of three women who he said “best understand how to protect the most important things in life.” The first was St. Anne, who raised the Virgin Mary; the second was Mary herself, the Mother of God, and finally St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be canonized and a member of the Mohawk people.

Both Mary and St. Kateri “received from God a plan for their lives, and, without asking any man, courageously assented to it,” the pope said.

“Those two women could have responded irately to anyone who opposed that plan, or simply submitted to the patriarchal rules of the time and given up, without battling for the dreams that God himself had inspired in them,” he continued. “They chose not to do that, but instead, with meekness and determination, with prophetic words and decisive gestures, they blazed a trail and accomplished what they had been called to do.

“May they bless the journey we now share, and intercede for us and for this great work of healing and reconciliation that is so pleasing to God. I bless all of you from my heart. And I ask you, please, to continue to pray for me,” the Holy Father concluded.

After the address, Pope Francis was scheduled to fly to Iqaluit, the capital and only city of Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost and most sparsely populated territory, arriving there at 3:50 p.m. EDT. After meeting with former students of Canada’s residential schools in Iqaluit, he will depart for Rome at 6:45 p.m.

[…]

Asunción, Paraguay, Dec 30, 2020 / 08:47 pm (CNA).- The House of Representatives of Paraguay held one minute of silence for “the babies that will die” few hours after the Senate in neighboring Argentina legalized abortion.

Un minuto de silencio. La plenaria de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó el minuto de silencio por la aprobación de la ley del aborto por parte del Congreso de la Nación Argentina. @780AM pic.twitter.com/N1tG62xlmx

— Luis Acosta (@lacostasoy) December 30, 2020

In a statement and a video released by the Paraguayan Congress’ press office, the representatives observed the minute of silence upon the request of congressman Raúl Latorre.

“I ask for a minute of silence for the thousands of lives of Argentinian brothers and sisters who are going to be lost, even before they are born, based on the recent decision made by the Senate of the neighboring country”, Latorre said.

After the minute of silence Congressman Basilio Núñez, a physician, said that “what has happened in Argentina is a tragedy”, and reminded that Paraguay’s House of Representatives has declared itself as pro-life and pro-family. The minute of silence was supported also by the three leading women in Congress, Norma Camacho, Blanca Vargas, and Esmérita Sánchez.

The abortion law was approved by the Argentinian Senate on Wednesday, December 30. The new law, in practice, will allow abortions at any time until birth and has no provisions for protecting the baby if he or she survives a late-term abortion.

[…]