Vatican City, Nov 30, 2017 / 05:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis arrived in Bangladesh with words of praise for the humanitarian assistance the nation has given to Rohingya Muslim refugees, and urged greater action on their behalf from the international community.
Speaking to Bangladeshi president Abdul Harmid and the nation’s authorities and diplomatic corps, the Pope said that in recent months “the spirit of generosity and solidarity” the country is known for “has been seen most vividly in its humanitarian outreach to a massive influx of refugees from Rakhine State.”
He noted how Bangladesh “at no little sacrifice” has provided shelter and basic necessities for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims at their border.
With the eyes of the world watching the crisis unfold, no one “can fail to be aware of the gravity of the situation, the immense toll of human suffering involved, and the precarious living conditions of so many of our brothers and sisters, a majority of whom are women and children, crowded in the refugee camps,” he said.
It is therefore “imperative” that the international community “take decisive measures to address this grave crisis.”
Resolution, he said, means not only working to resolve the political problems that led to the mass displacement of people in recent months, “but also by offering immediate material assistance to Bangladesh in its effort to respond effectively to urgent human needs.”
Pope Francis spoke hours after arriving in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for the second phase of his Nov. 27-Dec. 2 tour of Asia. He was in Burma Nov. 27-30, and will stay in Bangladesh for two days before returning to Rome.
His visit comes amid boiling tensions over the mass exodus of the Rohingya, a largely Muslim ethnic group who reside in Burma’s Rakhine State, from their homeland amid increasing state-sponsored violence that has led the United Nations to declare the crisis “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
With an increase in persecution in their home country of Burma more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh, where millions are in refugee camps.
Though the Vatican has said the crisis was not the original reason behind the Pope’s visit to the two nations, it has largely overshadowed the trip, with many keeping a watchful eye on how the Pope would respond, specifically when it comes to use of the term “Rohingya.”
Despite widespread use of the word in the international community, it is controversial within Burma. The Burmese government refuses to use the term, and considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. At the request of local Church leaders in Burma, Pope Francis refrained from using the word, and he has also done so in Bangladesh.
In his speech to authorities, the Pope praised the natural beauty in Bangladesh, which is seen in its vast network of rivers and waterways, saying the vision is symbolic of the nation’s identity as a people made up of various languages and backgrounds.
Pope Francis then pointed to the nation’s first leaders, whom he said “envisioned a modern, pluralistic and inclusive society in which every person and community could live in freedom, peace and security, with respect for the innate dignity and equal rights of all.”
Bangladesh gained independence from West Pakistan in 1971 after a bloody nine-month war that began when Pakistani military attacked their eastern state in a bid to eliminate Bengali nationalists from the region. West Pakistan began their assault in March 1971, and surrendered in December of the same year, resulting in the independence of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
The future of democracy in the young nation and the health of its political life, then, are “essentially linked” to fidelity to the original vision of the founding fathers, Pope Francis said.
“Only through sincere dialogue and respect for legitimate diversity can a people reconcile divisions, overcome unilateral perspectives, and recognize the validity of differing viewpoints,” Francis said, adding that true dialogue looks to the future and builds unity in the service of the common good.
This dialogue, he said, is also concerned for the needs of “all citizens, especially the poor, the underprivileged and those who have no voice.”
These words are especially relevant for Bangladesh, which is among the most populated countries in the world, but is also one of the poorest, with nearly 30 percent of the population living under the poverty line.
Francis said that while he came primarily to support the tiny Catholic community in the country, he is looking forward to meeting with interreligious leaders, as he did in Burma.
Interfaith dialogue has been a major theme of the Pope’s visit, as Burma is a majority Buddhist nation and Bangladesh is majority Muslim. In Bangladesh, 86 percent of the population practices Islam. The 375,000 Catholics there represent less than 0.2 of the total population.
In his speech, Pope Francis noted that Bangladesh is known for the sense of harmony that exists between followers of different religions, saying this atmosphere of mutual respect and interreligious dialogue “enables believers to express freely their deepest convictions about the meaning and purpose of life.”
By doing this, religions are able to better promote the spiritual values which form the basis for a just and peaceful society. And in a world “where religion is often – scandalously – misused to foment division, such a witness to its reconciling and unifying power is all the more necessary.”
Francis said this witness was seen in an “eloquent way” after a brutal terrorist attack at a bakery in Dhaka last year left 29 people dead, prompting the country’s leaders to make a firm statement that God’s name “can never be invoked to justify hatred and violence against our fellow human beings.”
Speaking of the role Catholics play in the country, Pope Francis said they have an essential contribution, specifically through the schools, clinics and medical centers run by the Church.
The Church, he said, “appreciates the freedom to practice her faith and to pursue her charitable works, which benefit the entire nation, not least by providing young people, who represent the future of society.”
He noted how many of the students and teachers in Church-run schools are not Catholic, and voiced his confidence that in keeping with the Bangladeshi constitution, the Church “will continue to enjoy the freedom to carry out these good works as an expression of its commitment to the common good.”
The Pope closed his speech assuring his of his prayers “that in your lofty responsibilities, you will always be inspired by the high ideals of justice and service to your fellow citizens.”
In his greeting to Pope Francis, Bangladesh President Abdul Harmid thanked the Pope for his visit and stressed the importance the nation places on religious freedom and development.
“People are only truly free when they can practice their faith freely and without fear,” he said, adding that in Bangladesh they “cherish” religious liberty and therefore stand with the Pope in defending it, “knowing that people everywhere must be able to live with their faith, free from fear and intimidation.”
Harmid also pointed to Francis’ message on mercy, which he said Bangladesh has put into practice with their welcome of the Rohingya Muslims.
“It is our shared responsibility to ensure for them a safe, sustainable and dignified return to their own home and integration with the social, economic and political life of Myanmar,” he said, adding that the Pope’s “passionate” condemnation of the brutality they face brings hope for a resolution.
“Your closeness to them, your call for helping them and to ensure their full rights gives moral responsibility to the international community to act with promptness and sincerity.”
The president also pointed to the problem of radical terrorist violence, saying “no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism.”
The Bangladesh government, he said, is therefore pursuing a “zero tolerance” policy committed to eradicating the root causes of terrorism and violent extremism.
“We denounce terrorism and violent extremism, in all its forms and manifestations,” Harmid said, yet at the same time, like other Muslim majority countries, Bangladesh is also concerned about “the rise of Islamophobia and hate crimes in many western societies, which is adversely affecting lives of millions of peaceful people of faith.”
“We believe that inter-faith dialogue, at all levels of the society, is important to combat such extremist trends,” he said. He closed his speech with an appeal to protect the natural environment, and said the Pope’s visit “renews our resolve towards building a peaceful, harmonious and prosperous world.”
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That’s quite clear, in the Grech program of not voting encouraged, Magisterial decision bracketed as rare. A “style” to be adopted presumed led by the Holy Spirit. What?
If there is no consensus or a Magisterial sanction how in the thinned air of the cosmos and beyond to limitless galaxies does anyone determine what indeed is the work of the One, Holy, third person ot the Trinity? It’s as clear as a sunny day that the logical intent, or is it a wild guess, is Darkness, a systemic deconstruction of the Catholic Church that will result in the opinion of one as good as another’s already circling the drain dragging the unwitting with it.
If this is perceived as too harsh or exaggerated I suggest return to planet Earth.
Friends, Roman Catholics, grant me a moment. I write not to praise Caesar but to question his agenda. Quite clear is the Grech program of voting discouraged, Magisterial decision bracketed as rare. A “style” to be adopted, presumed led by the Holy Spirit.
If there is no consensus or a Magisterial sanction how in the thinned air of the cosmos and beyond to limitless galaxies does anyone determine what indeed is the work of the One, Holy, third person ot the Trinity? It’s as clear as a sunny day that the outcome will result in the opinion of one as good as another’s. A circling the drain dragging the unwitting with it.
Fr Peter, it is not for me to tell you that we need to truly trust the workings in mysterious ways of the Holy Spirit in our Lord’s Church. What if, in accordance with consensus, people want same-sex “marriages” to be blessed by the Church? Should the Pope go along with it? Or, to to allow abortion? Remember many Catholics do have these views.
Mobocracy is not good in secular politics, and it will destroy the Church. Satan will take advantage.
Actually, I’m not implying that the Church should be ruled by consensus. That I would have assumed you must be aware of from reading my comments on Church doctrine. For example, communion for divorced and remarried outside the Church is a consensus opinion that some dioceses permit, others prohibit. Pope Francis appears to agree with the former. I follow the Apostolic tradition of the Church. This is a matter that the pontiff hasn’t responded to definitively when requested as with the Dubia.
Rather, the point is that with a consensus on an issue from bishops et al the Roman Pontiff can give clear direction. Without consensus and that definitive response we have multiple opinions floating among the faithful leaving the impression that we can choose whatever position we wish. Homosexuality is another monumental issue injuring our Church due to mixed messaging from His Holiness. Pope Francis must assume his Magisterial authority.
MAL consistently displays an invincible resolve to believe that Francis is fundamentally orthodox, which he clearly is not. He is not only not orthodox but is a Pope who has clearly expressed disdain for immutable unchangeable truth, actual doctrines, as so many museum pieces.
Yes. He’s managed by craft to effectively maneuver canon 915 to the Vatican Museum as an object of historical curiosity, replacing it with 916 assured that the reprobate Catholic politician will continue presenting for communion. Clever that man.
Fr Peter, I am convinced by your posts that you faithfully follow the Apostolic tradition of the Church. I am convinced that our Pope is also a faithful follower. As a Bishop, working in the slum areas with people in very different and very difficult situations, Pope Francis would have seen first hand some of the problems these people face. So, is our Pope abandoning our teachings and doctrines? No, not at all.
In Wherepeteris we read: “In chapter eight of Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis teaches that individuals in objective situations of sin (being divorced and remarried), but who are not subjectively culpable because of mitigating factors (insufficient knowledge and/or consent) may, in certain cases, receive Communion. (See paragraph 305 including footnote 351 in the appendix of this article.)
This is entirely in line with the Church’s teaching concerning mortal sin. The Catechism says that mortal sin prevents one from legitimately receiving Holy Communion (CCC 1415). However, the Catechism also says that “Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice” (CCC 1859). Further, the Catechism states that, “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors” (CCC 1735) https://wherepeteris.com/communion-for-the-divorced-and-remarried-a-defense-of-amoris-laetitia/
Obviously, each case needs to be looked at carefully and the best person to deal with it is the local Bishop – not a blanket ruling from the Vatican.
Re homosexuality: Yes, his statement made in the plane was deliberately distorted, especially by some Catholic websites. BBC wrote, “Pope Francis reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not.”
“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” he said. I fully agree with Pope Francis.
Mal, John Paul II also warned we cannot make mitigation a theological category, meaning that mitigating circumstances will remove responsibility for serious sin as we might interpret the Catechism. Pope Francis points to the canon on masturbation as an example of virtual complete absolution of sin insofar as it becomes habitual. That premise would logically follow with the conclusion that the more we commit a certain sin, the less we are responsible. And if the person dies they are received into paradise, whereas the poor soul who masturbates once [or the fornicator, thief, adulterer, embezzler] goes to hell.
Any premise, be it canonical, catechetical, must be interpreted in context of the body of Catholic doctrine.
Admittedly, there are exceptions. Although Francis has proposed a diagram of interrelated premises that eradicate doctrinal permanence. First is his interpretation of mitigation, next conscience as inviolable to the exclusion of responsibility to form conscience in accord with the deposit of the faith found in Apostolic tradition defined in the perennial Magisterium. For example, Francis says we must form conscience, not replace it implying exactly what it said here on responsibility to correctly form conscience.
On the immutability of intrinsic evil. Adultery. Francis argues in Amoris 303 that Saint Thomas Aquinas in ST 1a2ae 94, 4 showed universal principles of the good will always be found to contain defects. That is clearly a perversion of the Summa text. The text admits to a defect in universal perception, that is, in reference to all men regarding a universal principle of justice, the good. Not in reference to each individual person.
There always have been exceptions and priests for centuries have made them. What Pope Francis has devised by manipulation of moral, apprehensive principles is make it imperative that the priest give the benefit of the doubt to the penitent living in a manifest state of adultery based precisely on a false doctrine of inevitable mitigation and absolute inviolability of conscience in apposition to conscientious responsibility. That the Church is bound to accommodate the world, rather than call it to repentance.
Evidence of this are the personal conscience policies of German dioceses, Malta, Buenos Aires, the Philippines, Sicily et al that persons may present for the Holy Eucharist without regard to the irregular state and requirement for penitence. That the Church is modeled after a field hospital to tend the wound with the Eucharist given indiscriminately as a remedy.
What is evident is the growing unwillingness to reform our lives to imitate Christ’s, and the accommodation of sin rather than its healing by the sacrament of penance and reparation. An accommodating Church rather than a saving Church.
Francis simply embodies the trend of numerous moral theologians over the past half century adventurously more concerned with the attenuation of guilt feelings than the curbing of illicit vices.
Relax, I’m not blaming VII. The liberal theological trend preceded VII and had more to do reading the “signs of the times” that accommodated secular post war liberal trends that refused to learn what the war proved about the human capacity for evil, namely that it is supported by systematic, cultural, and institutional denial of the willful evil of the individual soul. The more evil we do, the more powerful the denial systems we create. Post-war man was more forcefully defined as the product of complexes and inhibitions and sociological determinants in need of an elite class to tell him what should be defined as evil and how to obey the elite class in their ever changing and reprioritizing plans to manage it out of existence.
Moral relativists like Josef Fuchs, Bernhard Haring, Hans Kung, Richard McCormick, Walter Kasper, numerous others, and Cardinal Martini, who tearfully begged for the Church’s embrace of the sex revolution, with depraved indifference to its instrumental connection to abortion, for which he approved, all wrecked havoc on the Church’s public moral witness, and the Church’s failure to disown their idiocies, thereby validating their idiocies to a large degree, compounded the murderous damage. Francis admired them all. The thought of thousands of other clerics became distorted to accept the possibility of moral relativism, believing we can foresee the complete consequences of transgressing moral absolutes better than God and judge whether or not to apply the precepts He gave us for our own good. Our vanities no longer damn us. Theologians like to be admired as much as anyone, and what provides an easier path than contriving ways to tell sinners their sins are not sins? And Amoris Laetitia makes it clear, no consideration to the damages of the victims of sin are necessary for the practice of the “new mercy.” First wives and abandoned children just need to accept that their husbands and fathers running off with their mistresses are pursuing a “noble comforting” to a new family, “irregular” or whatever stupid adjective applies.
Relativism has trickled into the thought of Francis, who, to convince himself, has created systematic multiphase euphemistic processes of corrupt spinning what honest minds used to call rationalizing. Discernment, a distortion of the traditional meaning of choosing between two goods becomes a trivialized acceptance of a moral wrong, accompaniment, coddling and condoning the wrong as an exercise in “charity” while actually helping to pave the way of sinners to hell, a “God of surprises”, where references to God are subordinated and abused to endorse whatever reversals of the negative precepts of the natural law contemporary appetites now find convenient. The same dismal view Niebuhr famously believed of liberal Protestantism is rapidly consuming similar Catholic surrender: “A God with-out wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” And the young are leaving a Church that doesn’t seem to have a purpose, except for those Francis is trying to purge because they prefer Latin and God worship to guitars and self-worship.
“Mobocracy … will destroy the Church.” ?
I think not: Matthew 16:18
I appreciate your response, F William. The Holy Spirit will will make sure that mobocracy will not prevail in this Church.
Readers may think I’m purposely flooding the internet with Synod criticisms, when actually I thought the Firewall refused the harsher top comment. Then I thought this gave an opportunity to submit a milder critique of the great synodal journey, a sort of 40 year trek [though Francis predicts unending] in and around the Sinai led by Moses. He Left Egypt shepherding Israel at 80 died at 120 on an unknown hill overlooking the Promised Land.
What might we gather from this? Men in those days had exceptional longevity. Francis is quite able for 85. Might he perform a prodigy or two. Perhaps part the Tiber leading Vatican escapees from hordes of adulating Egyptian migrants. Perhaps strike a cache of Frascati and change it into water for thirsting Southern Baptist pilgrims…Okay, I’ll stop.
Nobody knows for sure what this is but that it is a huge waste of pewsitter money.
Smoke and mirrors. Fancy words. Lost souls.
Dear Lord, please send us a true shepherd to lead us.
Mark, I am reminded about something I read many decades ago. A man fell down into a well and began calling out for help. He then started praying to God to help him. Immediately he saw a long straw coming down towards him, and a voice asking him to grab it. The man did not follow the advice. “You asked for my help, don’t you trust me?” said the voice. “Yes, I trust you Lord, but please send down a rope instead.”
Mail, I am reminded of the serpent in the garden encouraging Eve that God was trying to keep her from being “free” and all she could be by telling them not to eat of the tree. Or maybe I am reminded of the Tower of Babel. That seems to fit as well. Do we keep trying to build a modernist human replacement for God from within the Church? The silliness in Chicago from the Holy Father’s best American buddy and all the drivel coming out of the USCCB points to some kind of deep hole being involved here. Not thinking it is a well myself but agree a deep hole in the ground.
Mal. You’re assuredly the Catholic commentator’s premier self appointed conscience [as a matter of interest do you have a life supply of extended straws?].
You are on FIRE today, Father!
That said, I fear your nuance floats above the heads of the drowning. They grasp at an imagined papal lifeboat when all that exists is polluted air. Nevertheless, we continue to hear the disembodied voice of self-righteous, disingenuous, naked snark of ridiculous rationale. Who can tell the gal that death is in the straw?
Good one! Made my day–still laughing————–
Don’t worry, Fr Peter, when you are in a hole our Lord will provide you with his “straw”.
The pope claims the guidance of the Holy Spirit for his rigged process. Claim denied.
Another one on fire!
Hell fire.
HOHOHOHOHO! Where on earth have you detected hell fire?
To the contrary: Acts 2:3 tells that ‘tongues like flames’ appeared over the disciples. John the Baptist at Matthee 3:16 says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Finally, Jesus, at Luke 12:49, informs: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!”
So, as Scripture tells, hell fire rages in hell. Seeing hell fire on earth reveals eyes in need of spectacles.
This Synod will eb a monumental waste of money when the Church is already in the red, and will simply serve as a talkshop for the Pachamama worshippers, Rainbow brigade and, of course, ze Germans to spread their errors.
Here in the UK I order my groceries from Waitrose on-line and they frequently ask me to fill in a survey – questions like “How likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?” or “Was this good value for money?” all with multiple choice answers. My diocese -Arundel & Brighton – has issued a document for the synod which is remarkably similar to the Waitrose survey. Again multiple choice answers required to fatuous questions. At least Waitrose offers to reward me with a chance in a raffle. Perhaps the Diocese should do the same – 1st prize Eternal Life, 2nd prize all-paid Weekend at Casa Marta including breakfast with his Holines, 3rd prize 10 days off purgatory. I might be tempted then to respond.
“Synodality” seems to be another word for “community organizing” in the style of Saul Alinsky, the Jewish atheist and Marxist and famous community organizer. Community organizing has the appearance of consensus or majority rule but in reality is is all a manipulation by to organizers for an organization to follow their unstated agenda. It makes up the central modus operandi of the Democrat Party today. Its followers have extracted millions of dollars from the Catholic Church. I am not sure this is the way the Holy Spirit moves human behavior.
Precisely.
Everyone knows that the intent of The Sham-Synods are to impose the Marxist agenda of sex liberation, especially for consenting adult active homosexuals and their co-travelers living as parasites inside the Church, such as those promoted by and surrounding The Pontiff Francis, like “Rev.” plagiariast Tom Rosica and “Rev. James Martin and “His Eminence” Tobin of Newark and “His Eminence” Cupich of Chicago.
And add to that their Marxist agenda serving Chairman Xi of the Communist Party of China, who persecuted the Body of Christ while sunning himself in the adulation given by the spokespersons of the Pontiff, including “His Excellency” Sorondo who declares for The Pontiff that the best examples of Catholic social justice are the CCPs, and their “SK Reverences” at Amerika Magazine, who market the anti-Christ of Marxist totalitarianism.
That’s openness in the “Counterfeit-Cult-of Buenos-Aries-on-Tiber.”
Let’s not forget the USCCB promotion of ‘Communion, Participation, Mission’ (Slogan Translated: ‘Communal Mass of the Marxist-Catholic-Party’).
“Never ‘adjectivize’ the substantiality of life.”
The meaninglessness that comes out of the Vatican these days … Lord, save us!
I wonder if the Pope understands the things he says. It is highly unlikely that anyone else does!Perhaps he needs treatment, counseling or a revision course in language.
Each of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit are revealed in scripture. They are gifts to the baptized. Humility requires that all of us acknowledge that the Gifts are mysteries. At minimum they are presented to us as desirable goals: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. But it is also clear from Scripture that these Gifts are not just goals but have actually been given. It is also clear that Scripture does not indicate how a person with the Gifts can know that their thoughts and actions can be said to derive from possession of the Gifts. So, no one can presume to announce that the Holy Spirit wants this or that here now or in the future. Claims of calls to action by a ‘spirit’ is only found in pagan movements including Hegelian-isms, Marxism, Nazism, Progressive-isms, Science- isms, and all other presumed to be future-conscious fairy tales. Literature coming from the Synodality organizers calls for an action movement and appears to claim Holy Spirit involvement. Regardless whether the movement be reduced to just a ‘style’, it can only pray to the Holy Spirit and not set terms either for His involvement or that of others.
Spot on. The Spirit may move us; we can only hope and pray that He deigns to endow us (when we are docile, holy, and blessed enough to allow and accept His guidance) to move us. Thomas Dubay’s book Discernment: A Biblical Theology of Discernment (Ignatius Press) reviews the problems and possibilities of discernment. It offers guidelines. One of the most basic is the immutability of God, His Given Revelation, and Church dogma which has been bound and irreformable for millennia. God does not efface His revelation. Nor renege on promises. The Spirit effects peace and unity. His other fruits hint at His presence or movement but humanity does best to test, authenticate, and verify. Worth a glance.
The correct title: Authenticity: A Biblical Theology….