Month: September 2019

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Hong Kong Catholic leaders: Vatican involvement in protests unlikely

September 22, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Hong Kong, China, Sep 22, 2019 / 11:01 am (CNA).- Catholics in Hong Kong are continuing to participate in large-scale protests on the island territory, which have been going on now for over 100 days.

Despite the protests’ importance to people of faith, two Catholic leaders in the movement— the island’s auxiliary bishop and a student leader— told CNA that they do not expect the Vatican to weigh in on the situation in Hong Kong.

“It doesn’t seem to me that it’s necessary for the Holy See to get involved in the protests of Hong Kong. On the other hand, I have not spoken with anyone from the Holy See regarding the movement,” Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing told CNA Sept. 19.

Bishop Ha has been publicly supportive of the protests, as has Hong Kong’s bishop emeritus, Cardinal Joseph Zen. Ha has taken part in ecumenical prayer rallies with protesters in the past, urged an increase in prayer and said he is concerned for the safety of the many young people involved in the protests.

A controversial extradition bill, now officially withdrawn, sparked the first large protest on the island in June, when an estimated 1 million marchers took to the streets, chanting and singing.

The bill would have allowed alleged criminals in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China, leading to fears from Catholics and Christians that the Communist Chinese would use the bill to exert pressure on the free exercise of religion in Hong Kong.

Edwin Chow, acting president of the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students, told CNA that he thinks the Vatican’s delicate relationship with the Chinese government will make it unlikely that Pope Francis will come out in support of the protesters.

“I don’t really think that the Vatican will say something on the protests in Hong Kong. I hope they will support, but I don’t think that they will,” Chow told CNA.

“I don’t think that Pope Francis or the Vatican will say anything [about] the protests, because I think at the same time they are trying to deal with the Chinese government…so they will not do this thing, they will not support Hong Kong, because [to] support Hong Kong will make China angry.”

Sept. 22 marks one year since the Vatican signed a deal with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops, the details of which have still not been made public.

The provisional deal was intended to unify the underground Church, which is persecuted and faithful to Rome, and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is Communist government-sanctioned. It reportedly allows the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association to choose a slate of nominees for bishop, and has drawn significant criticism.

Beijing has for years sought to control religion in China, leading to widespread persecution. The U.S. Commission on International Religion wrote in its 2018 report that last year China “advanced its so-called ‘sinicization’ of religion, a far-reaching strategy to control, govern, and manipulate all aspects of faith into a socialist mold infused with ‘Chinese characteristics.’” Christians, Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners have all been affected.

Cardinal Zen, in particular, is a sharp critic of the Vatican-China deal, and has called the deal a step towards the “annihilation” of the Catholic Church in China.

Chow said his student group invited Cardinal Zen to celebrate an annual Mass for students Sept. 20.

He said a new protest anthem called “Glory to Hong Kong,” which has recently spread virally online, has even made its way into the Masses that the federation have held.

“People in Hong Kong really like this song, and it’s become a new anthem of the whole protest,” he said.

“At the end of the Mass, we sang…’Glory to Hong Kong,'” he said.

He said a local parish started the practice of singing the anthem at the end of Mass last week, but this week the diocese published a set of guidelines warning against the singing of political anthems at Mass.

“Although the parish is sure that the Lord’s ceremonies and the devotees are deeply concerned about the current turmoil in Hong Kong society, they do not agree that the social movement songs are applicable to the sacrificial ceremonies,” the diocese Secretary General wrote Sept. 19.

Chow said the young people see the situation differently.

“But we don’t think that the diocese has a very good argument. We don’t think that they’re right, so we still sing the song in today’s Mass. And why we sing the song is because we want to pray for Hong Kong.”

Last weekend, he said, there was a large protest in the city center, which Chow attended. He said like at many of the previous protests, the police used tear gas and water cannon to break up the protesters.

One of the protesters’ demands is a full investigation into what they see as brutal tactics by the police throughout the protests.

“I think the police are trying to suppress the protests, so sometimes they don’t actually approve the protest, but [people] still go outside. But actually for the protests that are not allowed by the police, some people may be afraid that they will be arrested, and will not go out. So I would say that actually the people trying to protest are decreasing.”

The protests are becoming more and more aggressive with more and more use of force, he said. Many protest activities, at least one almost every day, are scheduled for the coming two weeks, he said.

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Theologian withdraws from German synodal path

September 21, 2019 CNA Daily News 4

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2019 / 03:08 pm (CNA).- A member of the International Theological Commission has announced that she is no longer available to participate in the “binding synodal path” undertaken by the bishops’ conference of Ger… […]

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Pope Francis: The Church is a home for the lost

September 21, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2019 / 10:59 am (CNA).- No one is lost to Jesus, neither should they be considered lost to the Church and her members, Pope Francis told Catholics in Albano Laziale Saturday.

The pope reflected on the story of Zacchaeus the tax c… […]

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Medical migrant ordered to leave gets hope of reprieve, highlights similar cases

September 21, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Sep 21, 2019 / 08:00 am (CNA).- An immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than 16 years while receiving life-saving medical treatments is hoping for a reprieve after being given weeks to leave the country. 

Maria Isabel Bueso, a 24 year-old immigrant from Guatemala, has lived in the U.S. without citizenship since 2003 through temporary extensions of “deferred action,” or delays of deportation, so that she can stay and receive treatment for her rare medical condition.

Bueso traveled from Guatemala to the U.S. with her family in 2003 to participate in clinical trials for her rare genetic disorder. After more than 16 years, she was notified in August that she would not be able to renew her status in the U.S. because the administration would stop considering non-military requests for deferred action. She was given 33 days to leave the country.

On Sept. 19, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would resume granting non-military deferred action on a case-by-case basis, 

Bueso was “thrilled” by the news, her nurse, Wendy Bloom, told CNA, but remained only “cautiously optimistic” until she has full certainty of her status and hopes her case will draw attention to the plight of others like her.

“She’s really nervous until she actually gets an official letter that says ‘you are allowed to stay here,’ then she’ll be ready to have a party,” Bloom, a member of the California Nurses Association, told CNA.

Bueso has become an advocate for other patients with rare diseases—some of who needed to travel from outside the U.S. for treatment.

She has Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome (MPS-VI) which is a rare genetic disorder, and was invited to the U.S. at age seven to participate in clinical trials conducted by Dr. Paul Harmatz at Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, California.

Bueso traveled to the U.S. on a B-2 visa with her family, and has since remained in the country for weekly treatments. Bloom says she has known Bueso for 13 years, and that Bueso has been coming to the hospital for almost 17 years.

After she initially participated in clinical trials for her condition, that program helped develop a commercial drug—Naglazyme—that is now used to treat patients with MPS-VI.

In 2009, Bueso applied for and was granted deferred action of deportation, with a renewal every two years.

Several weeks after her notice to leave the U.S., Bueso testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at a hearing held on September 11 on “The Administration’s Apparent Revocation of Medical Deferred Action for Critically Ill Children.”

“The medical treatment I need is not available in Guatemala. If I’m sent back, I will die,” she told members of the subcommittee. Bloom explained that the treatment is expensive and requires special skills to administer; Bueso would not be able to receive the necessary treatment in Guatemala.

On Sept. 2, DHS had announced that it would review the change in policy for “deferred action,” but Bueso’s status was still in limbo.

“It was incredibly stressful for the family, incredibly stressful, and for all of us that care for her and love her too, it was really heartbreaking,” Bloom said.

Then on Sept. 19, DHS informed the House Oversight Committee that it would once again consider deferred action on a case-by-case basis for non-military immigrants in the U.S.

In the statement, DHS said that USCIS would resume consideration of “non-military deferred action requests on a discretionary, case-by-case basis, except as otherwise required by an applicable statute, regulation, or court order.”

Oversight Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) stated in response that “it appears that the Trump Administration is reversing its inhumane and disastrous decision to deport critically ill children and their families who are receiving life-saving medical treatment in the United States.”

The decision draws attention to the importance of allowing immigrants like Bueso to come to the U.S. for treatment.

“Medical research needs to be ongoing, and if we can’t have the type of patients enrolling in these studies then we have a problem,” Bloom said.

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Married priests are a possible option for the Amazon, says Vatican spokesman

September 20, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2019 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communications in the Vatican, said that married priests will be a subject of discussion during the upcoming synod of bishops on the Amazon, which will take place October 6-27 in Rome, but noted that the synod does not have the power to make decisions on the matter.

“The synod will discuss the possibility, for territories like the Amazon, to propose the ordination of married men. That is, the ordination of catechists, older persons who already have a role of responsibility in several communities. But it’s not a decision already made, nor is it certain that they synod will arrive at that decision.” Tornielli said in an interview Sept. 19.

“In any case it would not be a decision of the synod but it would be a decision of the pope,” Tornielli said in the interview, which was published on the Facebook page of the Brazilian bishops’ conference.

Tornielli referred to the working document of the synod:

“Affirming that celibacy is a gift for the Church, it is asked, that for the most remote areas of the region, the possibility be studied of priestly ordination for older people, preferably indigenous, respected, and accepted by their community even though they still have a constituted and stable family, for the purpose  of ensuring  the sacraments that accompany and sustain the Christian life,” the working document says.

In the interview, Tornielli explained that “the synod does not approve anything because it is a consultative body, the one who decides is the pope. We know, because we have read it, the synod’s Instrumentum laboris mentions the difficulties that communities in remote areas face in receiving the sacraments, and of having priests who can celebrate Mass.”

He also noted that “for many centuries in the Catholic Church there have been married priests. They are the priests of the Eastern Catholic Churches who have returned to full communion with Rome. But note, it’s not that priests can marry but that persons already married are ordained, this is for the Easterners.”

“The same thing exists, and perhaps this will be a surprise for our listeners, in the Latin Rite Church, as an exception, from the time of Pius XII. Pope Pacelli received former Anglican priests who wanted to enter into communion with Rome and as they were married they were ordained priests and they support their families,” he continued.

Moreover, Tornielli then said, “Pope Benedict himself with the constitution Anglicanorum coetibus has established that this exception can continue in the case of the Anglicans. So there already are exceptions.”

In effect, in 2009 Pope Benedict XVI approved the creation of personal ordinariates, jurisdictions created to receive the Anglicans who request by the thousands to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. In that framework, married Anglican priests can be ordained as Catholic priests.

 

A version of this story was originally published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

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