Juba, South Sudan, Mar 3, 2019 / 05:11 pm (CNA).- A peace agreement between the South Sudanese government and opposition leaders is bound to fail, because root problems have not been addressed, warned Catholic bishops in the country.
A pastoral letter… […]
Rome, Italy, Mar 3, 2019 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- In a visit to a Roman parish on Sunday, Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to stop gossiping and ruminating on the shortcomings of other people, and to instead focus on repenting of their own sins.
“The… […]
Vatican City, Mar 3, 2019 / 06:37 am (CNA).- To be effective teachers of the faith, Catholics must be cognizant of their own sins and shortcomings when giving correction and guide to others, Pope Francis said Sunday.
“So many times, we all know, it is easier or more convenient to discern and condemn the defects and sins of others, without being able to see our own with just as much clarity,” the pope said before the Angelus March 3.
People want to hide their own defects and even themselves, he said. “The temptation is to be indulgent with one’s self … and hard with others.”
This teaching is illustrated in Scripture, Francis said, when Jesus says: “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?’”
He explained that it is good to give counsel to a neighbor, but to do so while imagining one’s self to be faultless is wrong.
“If I believe I do not have [defects], I cannot condemn or correct others,” the pope said. “We all have flaws: everyone.” To correct others with credibility, and “with humility, witnessing to charity,” requires looking inside one’s self and acknowledging personal sin and failure.
The line about the splinter and the beam, and others from the day’s Gospel, are short parables Jesus tells in order to teach his followers “not to be presumptuous and hypocritical,” Pope Francis said.
Further illustrating the point, Jesus asks his disciples: “Can a blind person guide a blind person?”
The pope explained that “Jesus wants to point out to his disciples the way to go in order to live wisely. He wants to underline that a guide cannot be blind, but must see well, that is, he must possess wisdom, to guide wisely, otherwise he risks causing damage to people who rely on him.”
This is especially true, he continued, for those who have educational and leadership responsibilities, like priests, politicians, teachers, and parents. These people need the gift of wisdom in order to be good guides and to discern “the right path on which to lead people,” he said.
Like the parable which says good fruit comes from good trees and bad fruit from bad trees, the pope urged people to examine the “fruit” of their own words and actions.
“Let us think a little bit about this teaching of Jesus and ask ourselves the question: do I speak badly about others?… Is it easier for me to see the faults of others than mine? And we try to correct ourselves at least a little: it will do us all good,” he said.
Francis concluded by invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for help “to follow the Lord on this.”
Washington D.C., Mar 2, 2019 / 04:30 pm (CNA).- President Donald Trump has accused Democratic politicians of pursuing a “extreme” abortion agenda that would lead to the “execution” of newly born children. The president joined pr… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 2, 2019 / 03:03 pm (CNA).- “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Or, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
On Ash Wednesday, millions of Catholics throughout the English-speaking world will h… […]
San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, Mar 2, 2019 / 06:01 am (CNA).- After an 11-year-old rape victim in Argentina received a Caesarean section Wednesday, the local bishop has called for society to be committed to protecting life.
The girl was admitted Jan. 31 to the Eva Perón East Hospital in Banda del Río Salí, in the San Miguel de Tucumán metro area, due to some injuries attributed to suicidal behavior. It was then that she was found to be pregnant as the result of being raped by the partner of her grandmother, and she requested an abortion.
Argentine law prohibits abortion, except when the mother’s life or health is in danger, or in cases of rape.
Family court judge Valeria Brand authorized an abortion for the girl after delays caused by uncertainty over who was the girl’s legal guardian. Several local doctors refused to perform an abortion citing conscientious objection.
The girl ended up receiving a Caesarean section Feb. 27, about about 23-24 weeks of pregnancy, after doctors said there were too many risks associated with abortion in the case. The infant is alive, but is in poor health, weighs 1 lb 5 oz, and has little chance of survival.
In the wake of the case, Archbishop Carlos Alberto Sánchez of Tucumán called on society to be committed to protecting life. He encouraged the faithful “to be aware of this” and to care for the life “of every child, of every adolescent, of every elderly person, of every sick person,” and daily “to protect, to care for, to serve, every human life, because every life has value.”
Archbishop Sánchez recalled that “for us, believers, it is very important to be called together in prayer, but for this prayer to become a real commitment to protect every human life and defend every human life with passion, courage and with much generosity and dedication.”
“May God bless you and may we be able to join in prayer always to be guardians of life,” Archbishop
Sánchez concluded.
Both pro-life and pro-choice groups have been dissatisfied with how the girl’s case was handled.
The pro-life group Doctors for Life of Tucumán “strongly and absolutely” repudiated the Caesarean section and expressed their support “to all healthcare personnel who categorically refused on a scientific and legal basis” to do the procedure, due to the grave health risks involved “at this gestational age”; some have said that delaying the procedure 20 days would help ensure the lives of both the girl and her child.
Pro-choice activists have protested the girl’s inability to procure an abortion, and her delay in receiving the Caesarean.
The case follows a similar one that took place in Jujuy, in which a 12-year-old girl said she had been raped by her neighbor, and was given a Caesarean section Jan. 18. Her baby, Esperanza, was born at 1 lb 8 oz, and died Jan. 22.
A medical team had advised against the procedure due to the risk to the lives of mother and child. The pro-life organization Mas Vida charged that Esperanza’s death was a homicide because “there was no medical reason to deny her the gestational formation she was lacking.”
A bill to legalize abortion through the first 14 weeks of gestation narrowly passed the Chamber of Deputies last year, but was rejected by the Senate Aug. 9.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Vatican City, Mar 1, 2019 / 11:49 pm (CNA).- Speaking at a conference on Vatican diplomacy, the Holy See’s Secretary of State stressed that it is now important “to make the China deal for the appointment of bishops work in practice.”
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James Matthew Wilson’s intriguing and intricate new collection of poetry begins with an epigraph in which James George Frazer, author of The Golden Bough, suggests that the Jewish festival Purim, with its destruction of an […]
Washington D.C., Mar 1, 2019 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Thousands of migrant children and teens have reported being sexually abused or harassed while in government custody during the last four years, according to recently released government figures.
Accordin… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 1, 2019 / 04:10 pm (CNA).- About 250,000 U.S. residents from El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua will have their provisional residency status extended to January 2020 as the Department of Homeland Security complies with a fede… […]
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