Latin American Catholic college organization condemns seizure of Nicaraguan Jesuit university

CNA Staff, Nov 24, 2020 / 08:00 pm (CNA).- Argentine president Alberto Fernández said Sunday he hopes Pope Francis won’t be angry because of a bill he introduced in the country’s legislature to legalize abortion. The president, a Catholic, said he had to introduce the bill to solve “a public health problem in Argentina.”

Fernández made the statement Nov. 22 on the Argentine television program Corea del Centro.

In defense of his position, the president explained “I am a Catholic, but I have to solve a problem in Argentine society. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is the president of France who approved abortion in France, and the pope at that time demanded to know how being a Catholic he was promoting that, and the answer was  ‘I govern many French people who aren’t Catholics and I have to solve a public health problem.’”

“That’s what’s going on with me more or less. Beyond that, no matter how Catholic one is, on the issue of abortion, it seems to me that this is a different discussion. I don’t agree very much with the logic of the Church on that issue,” Fernández said.

The president’s reference to a public health crisis seemed to refer to unsubstantiated claims from abortion advocates in the country, who claim that women in Argentina die frequently from so-called “clandestine” or unsafe illegal abortions in the country. In a Nov. 12 interview Bishop Alberto Bochatey, who heads the Argentine bishops’ conference healthcare ministry, challenged those assertions.

Pope Francis is an Argentine.

When asked if “the pope will be very angry about” the initiative, Fernández replied: “I hope not, because he knows how much I admire him, how much I value him and I hope he understands that I have to solve a public health problem in Argentina. Finally, the Vatican is a state within a country called Italy where abortion has been allowed for many years. So I hope he’ll understand.”

“This is not against anyone, this is to solve a problem” and if the abortion law passes,  “that doesn’t make it mandatory, and those who have their religious convictions, all of them very respectable, are not obliged to abort,” he said in justification of the law.

Fulfilling a presidential campaign promise, Fernández introduced the bill to legalize abortion Nov. 17.

The bill is expected to be debated by the legislature in December.

The legislative process will begin in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) committees on General Legislation, Health and Social Action, Women and Diversities, and Criminal Legislation and then go to a full session of the chamber. If passed there, it will be sent to the Senate for debate.

In June 2018, the Chamber of Deputies passed an abortion bill with 129 votes for, 125 against and 1 abstention. After intense debate, the Senate rejected the bill in August by a vote of 38 to 31 with two abstentions and one lawmaker absent.

During the interview, Fernández said his bill would have the necessary votes to pass.

According to the Argentine president, a “serious debate” is not about “abortion yes or no”, but “under what conditions are abortions performed” in Argentina. Fernández accused pro-lifers of wanting “clandestine abortions to continue.” For “those of us who say ‘yes to abortion,’ what we want is for abortions to be performed in appropriate sanitary conditions,” he said.

After Fernández introduced his bill, several pro-life organizations announced activities in opposition to legalizing abortion. More than 100 lawmakers have created the Argentine Network of Legislators for Life to fight abortion measures at federal and local levels.

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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Maceio, Brazil, Aug 10, 2017 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While preparing to travel to Mass on Saturday morning, Archbishop Antonio Muniz Fernandes of Maceio was robbed at gun point, along with a deacon and a caretaker at his residence.

“I was targeted by a gun, but the assailants didn’t physically assault anyone. They took personal possessions and the little money that was in a wallet,” Archbishop Muniz said, according to the website of the Archdiocese of Maceio.

“I’m fine and tranquil. It is normal for anyone who goes through this to be surprised, but thanks be to God nothing serious happened.”

Archbishop Muniz was to be picked up at his house in the Farol neighborhood of the Brazilian city by Deacon Inaldo Pitta in order to celebrate Mass at Saint Goncalo parish. While the deacon was talking to the caretaker, three armed men approached them in a vehicle at around 5:40 am Aug. 5.

The robbers took the deacon and caretaker inside where the archbishop had also surrendered, and forced the caretaker onto the ground. While two men held the group at gun point, the third ran through the house looking for money and valuables.

The criminals stole scented oils, the men’s pocket money, and the archbishop’s cross and cell phone, but they broke the phone and left it in the street during their escape.

During a moment of distraction, the deacon was able to hide away in the bathroom, where he called the police. Once the robbers realized he was missing, they fled.

Security secretary Paulo Domingos Lima Junior reported the case is already under investigation, but no leads into the thieves’ identity have yet been reported. Colonel Marcos Sampaio, commander of Military Police, also visited Archbishop Muniz to offer his support on behalf of Lima and Governor Renan Filho.

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Osorno, Chile, Jun 15, 2018 / 02:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As part of their special mission to help bring healing to the troubled Chilean diocese of Osorno, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu are holding several pastoral meetings this week which they say are aimed at listening.

Speaking to Chilean media at the airport after landing in Osorno, Scicluna said they came “to convey the special closeness of the pope to the beloved people of Osorno. We are going to have a lot of discussion and will listen to our brothers, which is the most important [task] for us.”

Similarly, Bertomeu said they are “happy to be here in Osorno,” and voiced hope that they would be able “to communicate the Holy Father’s request for forgiveness in peace, in concord and in harmony.”

Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta and the Vatican’s former top prosecutor on cases of clerical abuse, is currently in Osorno with Bertomeu, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for a June 12-19 pastoral mission to the Chilean Dioceses of Osorno and Santiago in order to advance “the process of healing and reparation for victims of abuse” in Chile.

After spending two days in Santiago, in which they led a day of formation on the guidelines to be followed in investigations into sexual abuse in the Church, the pair arrived to Osorno June 14, where they will stay until June 17, and will hold a number of meetings with different communities in the diocese.

Immediately after landing in Osorno Thursday, Scicluna and Bertomeu held meetings with two groups of local Catholics – the “Catholic Faithful of Osorno” and a group of lay men and women from the diocese.

On Friday the pair met with clergy from Osorno, including priests and deacons, as well as the communities of Santa Rosa Parish and the Parish of the Holy Spirit.

They will meet with another parish community Saturday, and that afternoon will speak with religious men and women from Osorno. The day will close with a second encounter at a parish, after which there will be time for adoration.

On Sunday, Scicluna and Bertomeu’s last day in Osorno before heading back to Santiago, they will celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of San Mateo, after which they will meet with all parish communities in the diocese to pray for peace and reconcilation.

Scicluna and Bertomeu will then go back to Santiago for two days before returning to Rome June 19.

Osorno has been at the center of the Chilean clerical abuse crisis ever since Pope Francis’ 2015 appointment of Juan Barros Madrid as the diocese’s bishop – a move that was met with heavy opposition due to accusations he had covered up the crimes of notorious Chilean abuser, Fr. Fernando Karadima.

Francis had initially defended Barros, saying he believed the accusations against him were “calumny” during a visit to Chile in January. However, after new evidence was presented and news of old evidence resurfaced following his trip, the pope in February sent Scicluna and Bertomeu to Chile to investigate, resulting a 2,300-page report on the crisis which prompted the pope to pen a letter to Chilean bishops in April saying he had made “serious errors” in judging the case.

Since then, Pope Francis has met with all Chilean bishops and two groups of Chilean abuse survivors at the Vatican.

On Monday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has accepted Barros’ resignation and that of two other Chilean bishops. Every active bishop in Chile had submitted his resignation at the close of a May 15-17 meeting between the pontiff and the country’s bishops, during which Francis chastised them for systematic cover-up.

Scicluna and Bertomeu, whose current visit to Santiago and Osorno coincided with the news of Barros’ resignation, have from the beginning stressed that they have come to ask for forgiveness on behalf of the pope, to provide formation on how to respond to abuse, and to listen.

In a June 13 press conference before heading to Osorno, Scicluna said that “to recognize and admit the whole truth, with all of its painful repercussions and consequences, is the point of departure for an authentic healing, both for the victim and the abuser. These brothers and sisters deserve our special attention and assistance.”

He also defended the papal nuncio to Chile, Archbishop Ivo Scapolo, who has been accused of inaction when presented with abuse allegations, saying “we have a wonderful collaboration with the nuncio.”

In comments to Chilean media after landing in Osorno, Bertomeu backed Scicluna’s defense of Scapolo, saying “the nuncio has a very complicated role, because he has a role as a representative of the Holy Father before the Chilean state and then there are also actions which can also be easily misinterpreted,” La Cooperativa reports.

“I myself am aware that in any moment of the day I can do something which can be misinterpreted, so I think that the procedures of justice must be respected before condemning someone and one must be a little more sure,” he said, adding that “until now the nuncio has acted correctly.”

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