Month: January 2020

Paris, France, Jan 11, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- A leading architect in France has urged that the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris be reconstructed out of wood, for the sake of the building’s structural integrity.

Eric Wirth of the Guild of French Architects, expressed at a French parliamentary hearing Jan. 8 that rebuilding the roof with concrete or metal would be a mistake.

“We have to be sceptical of seemingly brilliant solutions” involving metal or concrete rafters he said, according to AFP.

“The most modern and ecological material today is wood,” Wirth said.

He said the cathedral is still at risk of collapse after a fire struck the cathedral in April, destroying the roof and spire and damaging the windows and vaults. He said alternative materials to wood might have resulted in further damage to the cathedral.

“The cathedral has been there for 800 years. Had it been built in concrete or steel it would not still be there,” he further added.

“Even with all the (chemical) protection treatments, given the intensity of the blaze… the steel would have held for half an hour and then it would have twisted, pulling on the walls and everything would have collapsed.”

He said that even if metal or concrete roofs were lightweight, the building’s structure is built for a heavy roof, and that such Gothic cathedrals “stand up structurally because there is a large mass on the vaulted ceiling … they only work because the roof is heavy.”

“We are lucky to have all the information we need to rebuild an identical roof.”

The comments came after Jean-Louis Georgelin, army general in charge of the restoration, said the call for an oak roof is just “lobbying” by wood industries. He said all options will be analyzed before anything is put in place.

“There will be a study, and all possible options will be examined,” said Georgelin, according to AFP.

In November, Georgelin had disagreed over whether the cathedral’s new spire should look modern or medieval. Georgelin, who supports a “contemporary” spire, reportedly told the architect Philippe Villeneuve that he should “shut his mouth” over the spire’s design.

The French parliament over the summer passed a bill declaring that Notre-Dame must be rebuilt exactly the way it was prior to the fire

Since the adoption of the 1905 law on separation of church and state, which formalized laïcité, a strict form of public secularism, religious buildings in France have been property of the state.

In December, the cathedral’s rector expressed concern that the Church is still at risk of destruction and may not be able to be reconstructed safely.

The church “is not out of danger,” Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said to the Associated Press Dec. 24. “It will be out of danger when we take out the remaining scaffolding.”

“Today we can say that there is maybe a 50% chance (the cathedral) will be saved,” said Chauvet. “There is also (a) 50% chance of scaffolding falling onto the three vaults, so as you can see, the building is still very fragile,” he added.

The scaffolding, present at the time of the fire on April 15, had melted together, and there are still about 551 tons of metal still present on top of the cathedral.

He said that after the scaffolding has been removed, the team will be able to better assess the state of the cathedral and begin the restoration. He said the scaffold will not likely be removed until 2021 and does not think the cathedral will be completed in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, as French president Emmanuel Macron has vowed.

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Bonn, Germany, Jan 10, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- A news agency owned by the Catholic Church in Germany has launched an English language service, which it says will provide objective news and information on the Catholic Church in Germany.

The new service… […]

Berlin, Germany, Jan 10, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A radical feminist group has taken credit for an ongoing series of attacks on pro-life advocates in Germany, including the vandalism of two churches and the burning of a pro-life journalist’s car. 

On December 27, an evangelical church in the town of Tübingen was spray-painted and a minibus was set on fire in front of the church. Authorities estimated that the vandals caused 40,000 euro in damages. 

Shortly after the vandalism, a confession letter was posted online on the website indymedia, where the church was accused of “anti-feminist attitudes.” The letter was singed by a group calling themselves the “Feminist Autonomous Cell.”  

Four days later, on the same website, the group said that they had “torched” the SUV belonging to German journalist Gunnar Schupelius. Schupelius, a columnist for the newspaper BZ, has written pieces supporting pro-life views. In the “confession” letter, Schupelius’s home address was published in a bid to incite further violence. 

This was the second time Schupelius’ car was destroyed by arson. The first arson attack happened in 2014, and, as in 2019, a confession was published online. 

The following week, the “Feminist Autonomus Cell” vandalized another church, this time in Berlin. The church, St. Elisabeth, is located in the city’s Schoneberg district. 

On the night of January 8-9, paint was thrown at the church building. Later, a letter was posted online that explained the paint attack was in response to the church hosting participants during the March for Life, an event held annually in September. 

St. Elisabeth’s hosted the pre-march event “Impact Congress 2019.” The event was aimed to connect pro-life activists throughout Europe. This, according to the vandals, was unacceptable. In the letter taking credit for the attack, the vandals said that the March for Life serves as a platform for “fundamentalist, anti-trans, homophobic, anti-Semitic, mysoginist, patriarchal and right-wing conservative” speakers, and therefore they the attack was legitimate.

The Federal Association for the Right to Life (Bundesverband Lebensrecht e.V, or “BVL”) posted a letter on its website refuting these claims, and said that they do not “recruit” any speaker of any ideology.

“We exclusively promote the cause, namely the unrestricted right of any human being to his life, no matter where he comes from, what he looks like, what his religious or political attitude is, or where he is,” said the letter from the BVL. The letter was published in German.  

“If that is ‘right,’ then logically the opposite is ‘left,’ i.e. misanthropy, xenophobia, hostility towards children, hatred of Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.,” the letter added. 

“Fortunately, there are millions of people who are not disconcerted by this nonsense of attempted misclassification, including, of course, many Christians who are not attached to any kind of phobia, hatred or attitude of discrimination, either against homosexuals, Jews, women or others. For all this is self-defeating if you take Christianity seriously and know it.”

No arrests have been made in response to the attacks. Last year, a record crowd of 8,000 took part in Germany’s March for Life.

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London, England, Jan 10, 2020 / 02:23 pm (CNA).- Carla Lockhart, a Member of Parliament for a Northern Irish constituency, urged Wednesday that the British law dealing with abortion provision in the region be repealed so that the local government can legislate on the topic.

“I want today to make the point to this House, on behalf of the many thousands of people across Northern Ireland who take a pro-life stance, that we want to repeal section 9 with immediate effect and allow for the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate, discuss and evidence-gather on this emotive issue,” Lockhart said Jan. 8 during her maiden speech in the House of Commons in Westminster.

Lockhart, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, was elected MP for Upper Bann in the 2019 UK general election on Dec. 12.

Section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 decriminalized abortion in Northern Ireland and placed a moratorium on abortion-related criminal prosecutions, and obliges the UK government to create legal access to abortion in the region by March 31.

The legislation took effect in part because the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has been suspended nearly three years due to a dispute between the two major governing parties, was not able to convene for business by Oct. 21, 2019.

The law has drawn some objections that it violates the letter or spirit of devolution agreements that grant the Northern Ireland Assembly power over important matters.

“It is imperative that I speak on this to attempt again to highlight the anger, disappointment and frustration concerning the change in abortion laws that have been foisted upon the people of Northern Ireland,” Lockhart stated. “These changes came in the most roughshod way, with complete contempt for the devolved Administration and the views of the people of Northern Ireland.”

She charged that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland “has not intervened to assist in our crumbling healthcare system, or to fairly reward our healthcare workers or to avert the mental health crisis we are facing. He hasn’t done that because, in his own words, he has said that these are ‘devolved issues’. Abortion was and should be a devolved matter, yet this House has imposed on Northern Ireland the most extreme measures of abortion anywhere across Europe.”

Some 9,000 Northern Irish healthcare workers are on strike over pay and staffing levels, according to the BBC.

Lockhart noted that Northern Ireland “has always supported life-affirming laws.” The region rejected the Abortion Act 1967 that legalized abortion in England, Wales, and Scotland, and bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.

“The DUP are a pro-life party, but this actually crosses traditional boundaries and there is widespread cross-community support across Northern Ireland,” she maintained. “We have an evolving political landscape, and I say let the people of Northern Ireland have their say on this matter.”

Indeed, a draft deal to restore power-sharing at the Northern Ireland Assembly has been backed this week by both the DUP and Sinn Féin.

Lockhart stated: “I want a society in Northern Ireland that values life, and I want to see services that will help women choose life … help us create a culture of choosing life.” She asked for government provision of a perinatal palliative care center, a maternal mental health unit, and better childcare services.

Prior to the NI EF Act abortion was legally permitted in the region only if the mother’s life was at risk or if there was risk of long term or permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health.

The British government held a public consultation on a proposed framework for the legal provision of abortion in Northern Ireland in November and December 2019. It proposed that elective abortions be available up to 12 or 14 weeks gestation.

It also proposed that “the gestational time limit in circumstances where the continuance of the pregnancy would cause risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl, or any existing children or her family, greater than the risk of terminating the pregnancy” be either 22 or 24 weeks. It notes that abortion under these circumstances is lawful in England and Wales up to 24 weeks, though “with advances in medicine and healthcare, it could be possible that a fetus having reached a gestation of 22 weeks (21 weeks + 6 days) is viable and thus capable of being born alive.”

In cases of fetal abnormality, the government proposed that abortion without time limit be available. It also proposed that abortion without time limit be allowed where there is risk to the life of the mother or it is necessary to provent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.

Lockhart responded to the proposed framework saying that “it is incomprehensible that the Government, knowing that abortion was a devolved matter, has published consultation proposals to introduce changes which go far beyond what has actually been required by Parliament.”

She charged that “in Northern Ireland, abortion on request for any reason will be legalised to the point at which a baby is ‘capable of being born alive’.

“It is my understanding that no consultation will take place on the legislative text of the regulations,” Lockhart said. “With regard to abortion, it is well known that the detail of the text is crucial.”

She asked that MPs, at least, be consulted before the specific text of the regulations is drafted.

“If the Government wants to maintain any commitment to devolution, I would implore them to rethink their coach-and-horses approach to a life-and-death piece of legislation,” Lockhart concluded.

Following the Upper Bann MP’s speech, Catherine Robinson, a Right To Life UK spokesperson, commented: “We share in Ms Lockhart’s disappointment and frustration concerning the imposition of extreme abortion laws in Northern Ireland by a Government who claims to support the devolution settlement.”

“We will support Carla and other MPs in their efforts to hold the Government to account on their words in regard to devolution, as doing so will help protect the lives of unborn babies in Northern Ireland,” Robinson added.

The amendment to the NI EF Act obliging the government to provide for legal abortion in Northern Ireland was introduced by Stella Creasy, a Labour MP who represents a London constituency.

In October 2019, the High Court in Belfast had ruled that the region’s ban on the abortion of unborn children with fatal abnormalities violated the UK’s human rights commitments.

Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017.

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