Mother sues over missed Down syndrome diagnosis, says she would have aborted

Rome, Italy, Apr 14, 2017 / 01:51 am (CNA).- In the hours after evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, a few pilgrims in Rome make their way to the Church of Saint Praxedes, home to a fragment of stone alleged to be the pillar upon which Jesus was scourged.

Known as the Column of the Flagellation, the stone offers an object of contemplation for those visiting the church to reflect on Christ’s Passion. This is especially true on Holy Thursday, when pilgrims traditionally go to churches throughout the city to venerate the decorated altars within which the Eucharist has been reposed in anticipation of Good Friday.

The column is kept in a glass reliquary in one of the side chapels of Saint Praxedes, a 9th century church named after an early Christian martyr who has long-standing devotion in Rome, but about whom little is known for certain.

The pillar itself, sculpted from black-and-white marble, was retrieved from the Holy Land during the medieval period.

Is the artifact which continues to be visited by pilgrims as the column of the scourging a true relic of Christ’s Passion? Most scholars would say this is highly doubtful.

Yet the probable in-authenticity of the pillar does not take away from the value in venerating it, says one expert. Rather, it is reminiscent of the genuine spirituality of medieval Christians, like those who found the pillar and brought it back from the Holy Land.

“The Middle Ages had a very powerful sense of God’s Providence,” said Gregory DiPippo, managing editor of the New Liturgical Movement website, “and to them you could almost say it was illogical that God would allow something like (the pillar) – which would have been Sanctified by being part of the Lord’s Passion – to go missing.”

Whether the true pillar of the flagellation still exists anywhere is uncertain. Jerusalem’s Chapel of the Apparition claims to have the true pillar: a broken red porphyry column which bears no resemblance to the artifact in Rome.

However, in speaking of Saint Praxedes pillar, DiPippo explained it was improbable that the original would have survived on account of the 1st century uprisings which led to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Nonetheless, there is inherent value in venerating an object that may not be genuine, when one takes into account the objective of veneration, he added.

In the Western tradition, “you aren’t venerating the object for its own sake, necessarily, but rather as an expression of a sort of realized presence of the person or the event that it represents.”

This point is further illustrated by comparing Western and Eastern liturgical practices, he said, observing that in the West, the priest incenses the relics of the saints, whereas Byzantines incense the images and icons.

“It is the living presence, realized presence in this case, of the Passion of Christ,” DiPippo said. “Even if it isn’t authentic, we are still honoring the Passion of Christ by venerating it as such.”

The pillar of Saint Praxedes was first brought to Italy by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, a 13th century prelate appointed by Pope Innocent III, who had been serving as papal legate in the Holy Land during the sixth Crusade. Returning to Rome in the 1220s, he brought with him the column in question.

“One mustn’t think of this as a conscious fraud on the part of Cardinal Colonna, or the people who received it as the relic of the flagellation,” DiPippo explained, but rather of Medieval devotion.

This article was originally published on CNA April 3, 2015.

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Rome, Italy, Mar 15, 2019 / 11:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Friday that he senses resistance to Gaudium et spes, a document the pope said he reflected much upon during his Lenten retreat this week.

In his concluding remarks at the Roman curia’s spiritual exercises March 15, Pope Francis said that he was struck by the retreat master’s theme of God’s presence in humanity.

“I thought a lot about a conciliar document – Gaudium et spes – perhaps it is the document that has found more resistance, even today,” Pope Francis said.

Gaudium et spes is the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world.

Francis told the retreat master, Benedictine abbot Bernardo Gianni, that he saw the monk possessed “the courage of the Council Fathers when they signed that document.”

The document’s introduction states that “the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.”

Gaudium et spes touches on the Church’s role in economic and social life, matters of the family, political affairs, the development of culture, and the promotion of peace in the world through the international community.

“Far from diminishing our concern to develop this earth, the expectancy of a new earth should spur us on, for it is here that the body of a new human family grows, foreshadowing in some way the age which is to come,” Gaudium et spes states.

It continues, “When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise—human dignity, brotherly communion, and freedom—according to the command of the Lord and in his Spirit, we will find them once again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illuminated and transfigured, when Christ presents to his Father an eternal and universal kingdom … Here on earth the kingdom is mysteriously present.”

Reflecting on the incarnate Word, the pastoral constitution says: “Christ … fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.”

Pope Francis returned to Rome after his Lenten retreat at the Casa Divin Maestro in Ariccia March 15. It is the sixth consecutive year the pope and members of the Curia have held their spiritual exercises at the house in Ariccia.

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London, England, Apr 8, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- At a ecumenical rally to call for an end to knife crime, the Archbishop of Westminster on Saturday challenged the community to provide youths with positive alternatives to gangs.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols spoke at the Standing Together rally in London’s Trafalgar Square April 6. He highlighted efforts being taken by the Catholic Church to discourage gang enrollment and called for more action from parishes, schools, and parents.

“The only way of counteracting a gang culture is to create for young people a sense of belonging to something else: something that’s positive, creative and attractive to them,” said Nichols.

The April 6 event was hosted by Ascension Trust in partnership with London City Mission, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and the Diocese of Southwark. The goal of the rally is to encourage the community to work against gang violence and support those who have been affected by it.

In 2017 and 2018, 285 people in the UK died from stabbings, the highest number on record; and there have been 22 fatal stabbings in London in 2019, according to the BBC.

Knife offenses in England and Wales have risen steadily since 2014, to more than 39,800 in 2017-2018. The vast majority of knife offenses in England and Wales are assault or robbery; though most violent attacks do not involve the use of any weapon.

In London, black and minority ethnic teenage boys and young men are disproportionately affected by knife crime, both as victims and perpetrators.

Nichols drew attention to some Catholic schools in London who have worked with the Metropolitan Police on anti-gang programs. Before children are introduced to gangs, he said, these programs provide explanations of this life-style’s dangers and the means for children to counteract offers.

He also applauded the efforts of a parish priest in his archdiocese seeking to initiate a boxing club.  The cardinal said boxing has been a positive avenue for youth in the past. These opportunities even led to careers, as in the case of John Conteh, he said.

“In my youth in Liverpool there were a lot of Catholic parishes with boxing clubs because they taught discipline and the right use of strength,” he said.

“This was the alternative to gang culture and this is the kind of reaction we need to involve young people in a way that calls out their commitment and helps them to build discipline and self-control in their lives, and that’s the best counter to some of the worst influences today.”

Nichols also encouraged parents to talk to their children about truth, and find times to sit in silence and pray, specifically to counter the influences of social media. These outlets are restricting the full potential of young people, he said, noting the media contain false promises and is a promotion of instant gratification.

“In families and schools we need to be scrupulous in telling each other the truth and not hiding behind the half-truths, crudeness and unworthiness of things that are cheap, quick and popular today.”

Speaking directly to the youth, the cardinal encouraged young people to remove themselves from gangs and throw out knives at anonymous deposit boxes throughout the city. These weapons do not ensure security, he said, noting that carrying knife will only promote its use and put oneself and others at risk. Rather, he said young people should seek out sincere friendships.

“So build friendships, find places where you can go and sit and honestly talk and share your experiences with other people. Say your prayers, turn to God, turn to Christ and let your life grow from that relationship with Jesus rather than from anywhere else.”

The British government announced last month it would provide police in England and Wales an additional GBP 100m ($130.6m) in the next year to counter knife crime.

Police in England and Wales were also given greater power to search people without reasonable suspicion in areas where there is a risk that serious violence may occur.

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