Vatican will not take Cardinal Ouellet to trial for sex abuse allegation

Lima, Peru, May 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Peruvian congresswoman Luz Milagros Cayguaray Gambini has demanded the country’s health minister provide the legal and scientific basis for a directive that would allow abortion when a pregnant woman is infected with the novel coronavirus.

Abortion is illegal in Peru except when pregnancy would cause death or permanent harm to a pregnant woman.

On April 22, Peru’s Minister of Health Victor Zamora issued a directive calling for provision of emergency contraception in the country, and allowing abortion for pregnant women who test positive for the coronavirus.

In a May 5 letter, Cayguaray demanded Zamora to “Indicate what the legal basis” is for the directive that allows doctors to “end the pregnancy,” if the mother has contracted COVID-19.

The legislator also challenged Zamora to indicate “the scientific and medical basis the norm is based upon.”

At issue is whether a positive test for coronavirus is sufficient to establish that a pregnancy threatens the life of a woman. Gambini says that assertion is unproven and unfounded.

Cayguaray has also written to Dr. Enrique Guevara Ríos, director of the country’s Perinatal Maternal Institute, asking him to report how many pregnant women with COVID-19 have been treated to date, “how many have had their pregnancies terminated,” “on what grounds,” and “what current regulation has been applied to carry out the interruption of those pregnancies.”

The Arequipa Doctors for Life Association has criticized the health directive in a statement.

“At this time in which all our efforts as a nation should be aimed at improving our precarious health system to mitigate the serious impact of the pandemic, the circumstances are being used to dictate measures that threaten the lives of Peruvians in their most vulnerable stage, life in the womb,” the group said.

Regarding the “morning after pill,” the group expressed surprise and concern “that the Ministry of Health promotes the irresponsible and reckless use of this drug in the general population and particularly for minors, and even worse, dispenses with obtaining the person’s medical history, which is an essential tool for the responsible practice of medicine, thus seriously exposing the users to danger.”

Aborting a child because the mother has COVID-19, the doctors said “is contrary to the principles that govern medical practice, which must always be based on the application of therapies that are based on rigorous scientific studies and with respect to elementary ethical principles” which guide medical science in providing the best strategies to protect patients.

When a woman is pregnant “we have two patients to take care of, the mother and the unborn child,” the doctors association stressed.

Concerning the babies themselves, five newborns whose mothers have COVID-19 were recently discharged from a government hospital in Peru. A sixth, also born of a coronavirus patient who is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, was born prematurely and remains hospitalized. None of the babies have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a May 5 interview with the El Comercio daily, Dr. César García Aste, who heads the hospital’s neonatology department, explained that there are strict protocols as to how the baby is to be fed in order to avoid infecting it.

A doctor from the hospital is assigned to follow up daily by phone on the baby’s condition for an average of 14 days, and “so far we haven’t had a problem with any of the five babies,” Garcia said.

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

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Bogotá, Colombia, Sep 7, 2017 / 08:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the first formal speech of his visit to Colombia, Pope Francis on Thursday told government authorities that the key to eliminating conflict is to recognize the dignity of all people, especially the poor and marginalized.

“I ask you, please, to listen to the poor, to those who suffer. Look them in the eye and let yourselves be continually questioned by their faces racked with pain and by their pleading hands. From them we learn true lessons about life, humanity and dignity,” the Pope said Sept. 7.

He explained that the Church, “faithful to her mission” and “committed to peace, justice and the good of all,” knows that the principles of the Gospel “are a significant dimension of the social fabric of Colombia, and thus can contribute greatly to the growth of the country.”

“Particularly, sacrosanct respect for human life, above all for the weakest and most defenseless, is a cornerstone in the formation of a society free from violence.”

Pope Francis met with political and religious authorities, the diplomatic corps, entrepreneurs, and representatives of civil society and culture at the Plaza de Armas of the “Casa de Nariño” in Bogota on the first full day of his Sept. 6-11 trip to Colombia.

His trip follows apostolic visits by two of his predecessors, Bl. Paul VI and St. John Paul II. “Like them,” he said, “I am moved by the desire to share with my Colombian brothers and sisters the gift of faith, which put down its roots so strongly in these lands, and the hope which beats in the hearts of everyone.”

“Only in this way, by means of faith and hope, can we overcome the numerous difficulties encountered along the way, to build a country that is a motherland and a home to all Colombians.”

He said the work of creating and shaping society must include all people, encouraging authorities to look in particular to those who are excluded and marginalized by society, because “Colombia needs the participation of all so as to face the future with hope.”

Francis noted the significant progress towards peace that had been achieved over the past year with the signing of the peace accord between authorities and the guerilla group FARC. These steps give rise to hope, he said.

“Seeking peace is an open-ended endeavor, a task which does not relent, which demands the commitment of everyone.”

“It is an endeavor challenging us not to weaken our efforts to build the unity of the nation. Despite obstacles, differences and varying perspectives on the way to achieve peaceful coexistence, this task summons us to persevere in the struggle to promote a ‘culture of encounter.’”

A culture of encounter requires us to place the human person at the center of everything – all political, social and economic activity – and in doing so, may we have the determination and strength to resist the temptation to vengeance and partisan interests, he continued.

“The motto of this country is: ‘Freedom and Order.’ These two words contain a complete lesson. Citizens must be valued according to their freedom and be protected by a stable order. It is not the law of the most powerful, but rather the power of the law, approved by all, that regulates a peaceful coexistence.”

Francis urged them to institute just laws in order to promote peace and overcome the country’s decades-long conflict.

Referencing Evangelii Gaudium, he said that we need laws “which are not born from the pragmatic need to order society,” but from the “desire to resolve the structural causes of poverty that lead to exclusion and violence.”

“Only in this way can there be healing of the sickness that brings fragility and lack of dignity to society, leaving it always vulnerable to new crises. Let us not forget that inequality is the root of social ills,” he said.

In the speech, Pope Francis also pointed out Colombia’s great biodiversity, considered second in the world, and which he said requires careful respect.

The nation is blessed in many ways, he said, including in the beauty of its nature: “traveling through this land one can taste and see how good the Lord has been in bestowing such immense variety of flora and fauna…”

He also noted the vibrancy of the country’s culture and people. Just as St. Peter Claver, the Spanish missionary, first saw Colombia with amazement, we too are amazed at its landscape and its inhabitants, the Pope said.

Let us stop to recognize, in particular, all those who have no voice: the weakest, the oppressed and maltreated, as well as the contribution of women, he said. “Ladies and Gentlemen, you have before you a fine and noble mission, which is also a difficult task,” he emphasized.

Concluding, the Pope quoted from the acceptance speech of Colombian author and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, who said in spite of the difficulty of the task, “Before oppression, plundering and abandonment, we respond with life.”

“Neither floods nor plagues, famines nor cataclysms, nor even the unending wars down the centuries, have been able to subdue the tenacious advantage of life over death. An advantage which is both increasing and accelerating.”

“We do not want any type of violence whatsoever to restrict or destroy one more life. I have wanted to come here to tell you that you are not alone, that there are many of us who accompany you in taking this step; this visit intends to offer you an incentive, a contribution that in some way paves the path to reconciliation and peace,” he said.

“You are in my prayers. I pray for you, for Columbia’s present and future.”

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Panama City, Panama, Aug 8, 2019 / 02:38 pm (CNA).- The standing committee of the Panamanian bishops’ conference has expressed its concern over a migration reform bill, asking that it be humane and respectful of the rights of immigrants and refugees.

They urged that immigrants and refugees not be seen as a threat, or blamed for the social ills affecting the country.

The bishops released their statement after the Government, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Commission of the National Assembly approved a bill seeking to establish tighter migration controls.

Zulay Rodríguez, the bill’s sponsor, said that in recent years many foreigners have abused the good things about Panama, and taken jobs from Panamanians: “They’ve taken away and stolen from us our country. We’re the excluded ones, so now we are going to make decisions.”

In their statement, the bishops recognized that the debate on the migration law reforms “has created tension among some sectors of society.” However, they called for not seeing migrants as a threat since “they’re people looking for better conditions for their lives because of forced displacement, human trafficking, violence, poverty, political persecution, and terrorism.”

“We can’t hold them responsible for the social ills affecting us as a country. Instead we should seek ways of encounter, dialogue, and peace that make us grow in fraternity and solidarity,” they said.

The Panamanian bishops said they are “aware of the need of the Panamanian state for a comprehensive migration policy that respects the rights and dignity of migrants and refugees.”

However, they pointed out that “this requires an analysis based on official data, the revision of current laws and decrees on migration, in order to adopt public migration policies that guarantee peace, solidarity with the helpless, security, and mutual respect between all the inhabitants of our country.”

Panama “has historically been a been a country of transit, consisting of migrations, some forced and others driven by the search for a better quality of life.”

They recalled that the country “has always kept its arms open to receive people from all over the world and this spirit of solidarity and fraternity must be strengthened, especially at this time.”

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