New safety measures in place after Sri Lanka bombings

Gizo, Solomon Islands, Jan 7, 2019 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Known as the “flying bishop” of Solomon Islands, Bishop Luciano Capelli visits Catholics across dozens of islands by piloting a small airplane he also uses to deliver food and medicine.

Capelli, an Italian, was a Salesian missionary in the Philippines for 35 years before coming to the Diocese of Gizo in October 2007. He arrived six months after an earthquake destroyed homes, schools, and churches across the Solomon Islands, a nation of nearly 1,000 islands in Oceania.

“My first task was to encourage the people to rebuild the cathedral, the seven parishes and the 12 schools,” he explained in an interview with the Missioni Don Bosco portal.

The Diocese of Gizo is comprised of some 40 islands with a total population of 136,347  inhabitants, 11 percent of which are Catholics, i.e. about 15,000.

With financial support from the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Capelli was able to take flying lessons and the diocese received an ultralight small airplane.

In the plane, which he himself has piloted since 2011, he visits hospitals, schools and communities, bringing medicine and basic necessities.

Capelli said that isolation is a major challenge for people in his diocese, adding that this is resolved “with a presence.”

“Presence is possible only if there is a means to take you.” Thanks to the airplane, he can visit each mission location between three to five times a year, whereas without it he would have to use a dangerous and more costly boat, he told Askanews.

Capelli has been particularly busy since October 2018, when he decided to send one of his dioceses’ two priests to Italy for advanced studies.

Speaking to Missio Italia, the prelate said that “it’s a sacrifice, and to no little account, depriving us of 50 percent of the clergy! But I trust that the Lord will make new vocations flourish and there will be new ones to come for a an effective and courageous evangelization.”

“We have been working a lot these years with young people and the new generations to train catechists and leaders in the communities. I’m not afraid!”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

Melbourne, Australia, Mar 4, 2019 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- A man who says he was sexually assaulted in the 1970s by Australia’s Cardinal George Pell says he will file a lawsuit against the cardinal, after prosecutors scuttled a plan to try Pell for the alleged abuse.

The man, whose name has not been disclosed, claims that Pell touched him inappropriately while playing with him in the swimming pool of a Church-run boys’ home where he resided. The man, referred to by his attorney as “David,” is now 50. He lived at the boys’ home from 1974 to 1978, leaving the home before he was ten years old.  Pell was at that time a priest serving in Ballarat, Australia.

Pell was convicted last year of five counts of sexual abuse, stemming from charges that he sexually assaulted two choir boys in a cathedral in the 1990s, while Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne. He was expected to face a second trial concerning allegations that in the 1970s he sexually assaulted two other boys in the Ballarat swimming pool. Prosecutors dropped that case before trial, citing insufficient evidence.

Charges related to “David’s” claim were dropped weeks before prosecutors decided to scuttle the entire trial.

The cardinal is now incarcerated, awaiting sentencing after a court hearing last week related to his previous trial.

“David” alleges that he was also abused by a nun who staffed the boys’ home. In addition to Pell, he plans to include the nun’s religious order, the Sisters of Nazareth, along with the Australian state of Victoria and the Archdiocese of Melbourne in his lawsuit.

“David’s” attorney told the Guardian that the man “was devastated when the prosecution decided not to proceed with the case.”

Pell is appealing his criminal conviction. Melbourne law professor Jeremy Gans told the Guardian last week that there is a good chance Pell’s appeal will succeed, in large part because there was only one key witness in the prosecution’s case.

While many figures in Australian media have applauded Pell’s conviction, some Australians have called it into question, prompting considerable debate across the country.

Paul Kelly, editor-at large at The Australian, said last week that “the implausibility of the evidence” against Pell “raises serious doubts” that the cardinal had a fair trial.

Other observers have expressed similar sentiments. Well-known Australian crime reporter John Silvester argued in The Age that “if Pell did molest those two teenagers in the busy cathedral, it certainly does not fit the usual pattern of paedophile priests.”

“Pell has become a lightning rod in the worldwide storm of anger at a systemic cover-up of priestly abuses. But that doesn’t make him a child molester,” Silvester said.

When Sky News Australia commentator Andrew Bolt announced that he would defend Pell on his television program Feb. 26, the network pulled all advertising from the broadcast, to ensure that advertisers would not be connected to the discussion.

“Sky News is committed to providing a platform for robust debate and discussion and is not afraid to tackle confronting and controversial issues,” a spokeswoman for the network told the Weekly Beast.

“Sky News recognised that the controversial topic of George Pell’s conviction to be covered by one of its highest-rating commentators may have presented an environment that left advertisers open to campaigns by activists.

“A proactive decision was made to replace advertisements during Tuesday night’s program.”

“David” has not yet filed a lawsuit. Attorneys say that he will seek damages for psychological harm, lost wages, and medical expenses. Attorney also say they will call as witnesses other men who allege Pell sexually assaulted them in a similar fashion.

Pell has denied the accusations.

[…]

Liudmila Fadzeyeva/Shutterstock

Canberra, Australia, Jul 7, 2021 / 05:40 am (CNA).
Support is growing for a bill seeking to protect babies born alive after abortions in Australia.The private members’ bill was introduced in the Australian House o… […]