Pope Francis will travel to Morocco as a ‘pilgrim of peace and fraternity’

March 28, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Vatican City, Mar 28, 2019 / 12:42 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis travels to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, this weekend, where he said he will follow in the footsteps of St. John Paul II, who visited the North African country in 1985.

“Following in the footsteps of my predecessor Saint John Paul II, I come as a pilgrim of peace and of fraternity, in a world which has great need of both,” Francis said in a video message sent ahead of his March 30-31 visit.

Thirty-four years after St. John Paul II traveled to Morocco and six other African countries, Pope Francis will go to address immigration and dialogue between Christians and Muslims, and to support the small Catholic community in the country, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said.

Morocco has just under 35 million inhabitants, just 23,000 of whom are Catholic. The two Catholic dioceses, Rabat and Tanger, have a combined 35 parishes. The country is around 99 percent Muslim.

In his March 28 message to Moroccans, Pope Francis said he is grateful to God for granting him the opportunity to visit the country, and to King Mohammed VI for the invitation.

The first day of the trip will be devoted to the pope’s meetings with Mohammed VI and the Moroccan authorities, and will include stops at the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and a training institute for imams. The day will conclude with a meeting with immigrants.

“This journey also offers me the invaluable occasion to visit the Christian community in Morocco and to encourage its progress,” the pope said. “I will meet migrants too, who represent an appeal to build together a more just and fraternal world.”

On March 31, the pope will meet with priests, religious, consecrated, and an ecumenical council. He will then lead the Angelus prayer. After lunch with the bishops of Morocco, he will celebrate Mass.

Christians and Muslims, Francis noted, both “believe in God the Creator and Merciful One, who has created men and women and placed them on the earth so that they might live together as brothers and sisters, respecting each other’s diversity and helping each other in their need.”

God “has entrusted the earth – our common home – to them, to care for it responsibly and to preserve it for future generations,” he continued. “It will be a joy for me to share these firm convictions with you directly at our meeting in Rabat.”

The message concluded with Pope Francis’ assurances of prayers for the people of Morocco and for their country, and the expression of his “heartfelt thanks,” in advance, for their welcome.

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Brothers of Charity euthanasia controversy could have far-reaching implications

October 5, 2017 CNA Daily News 4

Vatican City, Oct 5, 2017 / 11:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Vatican officials have summoned to Rome the board of directors overseeing a group of Belgian Catholic hospitals.

The group administers hospitals sponsored by the Brothers of Charity, a religious order, although the board is mostly composed of laity. The board recently decided to allow euthanasia in the Catholic hospitals it oversees.

After appeals from the religious order, board members have been asked to explain their decision to Church authorities in Rome, apparently at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

News of the summons broke after a Sept. 29 meeting between Br. René Stockman, Superior General of the Brothers of Charity, and the competent authorities at the Vatican.

Last spring, the board of directors decided to permit euthanasia, under certain conditions, in their facilities. The religious order asked the board to reverse the decision, but the board refused. Because the Brothers of Charity had no legal options in Belgium, they appealed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The response, backed by Pope Francis, directed that the board reverse the euthanasia policy, in conformity to Catholic doctrine.

The decision to allow euthanasia in Brothers of Charity hospitals came after the Belgian bishops’ conference publicly declared that no euthanasia could be allowed in Catholic institutions.

Cardinal Jozef de Kesel of Malines-Brussels, stressed to CNA that “the bishops spoke out clearly: euthanasia cannot become a right.”

In a statement released on their web site, the Brothers of Charity explained that the board reaffirmed their to allow euthanasia, under certain conditions, during a Sept. 11 meeting, despite the directives of the Belgian bishops and the Vatican. After the religious order was unable to persuade the board to reverse the decision, they appealed again to Vatican officials. The board will now be asked to explain their decision, as Church officials determine how to proceed.

The Brothers of Charity underscored that “the Vatican communicates that it will not change its initial request to have an absolute respect for life in all circumstances in accordance with the Catholic doctrine.”

The meeting, which has not yet been scheduled, “will be the last chance” for the hospital board “to set themselves in line with the doctrine of the Catholic Church,” said Br. Stockman.

The Brothers of Charity sponsor 15 hospitals in Belgium, taking care of about 5,000 patients. The board of directors administers the hospitals’ civil corporation. The board has 15 members, but only three of them are Brothers of Charity.

The Brothers of Charity who serve as board members have signed a joint letter declaring their full support of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. However, to emphasize their decision, the board has published positiont reiterating their support for euthanasia.

Fernand Keuleneer, an attorney in Brussels who served as a member of the Belgian euthanasia commission from 2002 through 2012 and who is advising the Brothers of Charity on the issue, told CNA that the board’s position paper has “repeatedly stated that euthanasia is part of the ‘therapeutic liberty’ of medical doctors.”

According to Keuleneer, “such a position implies that the board of trustees consider euthanasia to be a medical act.”

Keuleneer explained that the position paper is problematic because it “denies the legal autonomy and liberty of institutions to refuse the execution of euthanasia, but moreover it does so by declaring euthanasia a medical act, which will have implication far beyond its own institution.”

The attorney explained that if euthanasia is a medical act, a claim unique to the position paper, “even if all medical doctors in a psychiatric care institution would adhere to the conditions and procedures of the position paper, nothing would prevent a patient from bringing in an outside physician. Such are the far-reaching consequences of this position paper.”

Keleuneer also noted that “the fact that an association calling itself Brothers of Charity, which is in addition explicitly confirming its Christian identity, adopts this position will receive worldwide attention and will be used on a global level.”

Kesel, who serves as president of the Belgian bishops’ conference, summarized the position of the Belgian bishops on the matter.

“Euthanasia is never possible. This is, in fact, a taboo, and our society barely understands taboos,” the cardinal said. “Freedom cannot be an absolute, it has limits. But these limits do not limit freedom, they give sense to freedom.”

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