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Rome Newsroom, Aug 8, 2023 / 08:30 am (CNA).
The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Francis’ annual peace message for 2024 will focus on artificial intelligence (AI).A statement from the Vatican’s… […]
Approximately 525 women, a mix of all ages from every state in the country, attended the Knights of Columbus 141st Supreme Convention “Ladies Program” Aug. 1, 2023. / Photo courtesy of the Knights of Columbus
Orlando, Fla., Aug 8, 2023 / 08:00 … […]
Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane (center), General Mohamed Toumba (center-left), and Colonel Ousmane Abarchi (right) are greeted upon their arrival at the Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey, Niger, on Aug. 6, 2023. / Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 8, 2023 / 07:25 am (CNA).
Nigerian Catholic bishops are discouraging the leaders of Western African nations from using military intervention in the neighboring country of Niger after the government’s military ousted its president and installed a general as the new head of state.
Less than two weeks ago, senior military officials deposed Niger President Mohamed Bazoum and presidential guard commander Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani announced himself as leader.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) threatened military intervention if Niger’s military refused to restore democracy within one week. The deadline passed on Sunday, but the coup leaders remain in power.
In response to the threat, some Nigerian groups are discouraging Western African countries from using military intervention and are encouraging diplomacy instead. Nigeria is positioned just north of Niger and shares a nearly 1,000-mile border with the country.
The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, is urging Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to dissuade Western African countries from using military intervention despite the deadline passing.
“At the end of their meeting, [ECOWAS] gave the coup plotters one week to restore democratic leadership in Niger or risk military intervention,” Ugorji said during a pastoral visit to Mary Mother of God Catholic Parish, according to the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard.
“This marching order [expired Sunday],” Ugorji added. “They reasoned that it is wrong to change government by force. They are correct, but we also believe that shedding precious human blood is equally wrong. Two wrongs can never make a right.”
“We are begging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to dissuade ECOWAS heads of states to resist the temptation of going to war against the coup plotters,” Ugorji said. “We beg them to stop the imminent bloodshed that will trail the military intervention. We have wasted a lot of human blood in Africa. We have also wasted precious human lives in Nigeria and we cannot continue in this ugly fashion, for whatever reason,” the archbishop said.
Ugorji noted that some countries are supporting the coup and suggested ECOWAS “think of what should be the fate of the organization” if Western African countries intervene.
“The media is awash with the news of some countries that have already declared their full support for the country and their military strongmen,” the archbishop continued. “Russia may also be there, without our knowing. While we say no to coup d’etat, we also say no to war, for whatever reason. We say no manipulation of election results because it is also another shade of coup d’etat.”
The United States government, which had strong relations with the country’s ousted president, condemned the coup and paused some foreign assistance programs in Niger.
Father Mark Beard, pastor of St. Helena Catholic Church in Amite City, Louisiana, died in a car accident Aug. 2, 2023. / Credit: Diocese of Baton Rouge
St. Louis, Mo., Aug 8, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).
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A man holds a sign at a pro-life rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023, marking the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. / Joseph Portolano/CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 7, 2023 / 16:20 pm (CNA).
Two recently instituted federal abortion provisions have raised the possibility of legal challenges under the decades-old Hyde Amendment that outlaws federal funding for most abortion procedures.
Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Veterans Affairs recently instituted new policies offering abortion coverage for employees and veterans, respectively. The Department of Justice said it would cover travel expenses for servicewomen who seek abortions out of their respective states, with the DOJ promising in February to offer coverage of “travel allowances for non-covered reproductive health care.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs also recently instituted a rule allowing VA employees “access to abortion counseling and — in certain cases — abortions to pregnant Veterans and VA beneficiaries.” Both the DOJ and the VA’s new policies were passed in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court repeal of Roe v. Wade.
The rules have generated significant blowback at the federal level. In the Senate, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked the promotion of hundreds of military promotions in protest of the DOJ’s policy.
Political questions aside, it is uncertain whether the new rules run afoul of the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding provision in federal law that prohibits the government from using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.
Named in honor of the provision’s chief sponsor, Illinois Sen. Henry Hyde, the rule — which has been updated several times since 1976 — outlaws federal abortion funding except in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother’s life or health is in danger.
Mary Ziegler, professor of law at the University of California-Davis School of Law, told CNA there’s “definitely a plausible argument under the Hyde Amendment” that the rules could run afoul of federal law.
“I don’t know if it will work,” she said. “But it’s not a completely ridiculous argument.” A conservative shift in federal judges in recent years, she said, means federal courts ”would not be an unfriendly place to make that sort of argument.”
Challengers to the abortion policy, Ziegler said, could argue that money is ultimately “fungible,” or interchangeable within intra-department budgets. Funding travel for abortion, she said, could mean “you’re in effect subsidizing abortion, and that’s disallowed under the Hyde Amendment except for the exceptions.”
Joshua Huder, a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University, was skeptical of the potential for the new rules to run afoul of Hyde.
“On its face, the Hyde Amendment is attached to the Labor, HHS, and related agencies appropriations bill and affects funds only in that bill,” he said.
“So funds appropriated in other bills for other agencies (like defense or the MilCon-VA bill) would not be bound by the Hyde Amendment provision since they are separate bills.”
The Hyde Amendment has regularly been at the center of contentious political debate in the decades since its passage. The measure survived a 1980 Supreme Court challenge. Republicans in 2017 tried and failed to make the rule a permanent part of federal law. The GOP over the past decade also attempted — again unsuccessfully — to write its provisions into Affordable Care Act rules.
During her failed 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton proposed abolishing the Hyde Amendment; Joe Biden during his successful 2020 campaign made a similar proposal, though Democrats have not succeeded in doing so in the first two-and-a-half years of his presidency.
Michele Swers, a professor of American government at Georgetown University, told CNA that the new abortion rules could generate intensive political fighting in Congress in the near future.
“Republicans are clearly making the argument that these provisions run afoul of the Hyde Amendment,” she said. “With a split Congress and 60 votes needed in the Senate, I think it will be hard for Democrats or Republicans to make any changes to existing Hyde Amendment language.”
“The provisions included in the House Appropriations bills will likely fall out,” she said, “but the fight over them could end up contributing to a potential government shutdown.”
Last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will remain a powerful motivator for both factions in Congress, Swers said.
“With the Dobbs decision, Democrats see taking a strong stand for abortion rights as even more important for motivating their voters,” she said.
Pro-life groups, meanwhile, “are very focused on these funding issues in addition to getting a commitment for a national ban of some type.”
Neither the Department of Justice nor the VA responded to queries about their new abortion rules.
Our Lady of Fatima statue in Fatima, Portugal. / Photo courtesy of Shrine of Fatima
ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 7, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
“I opened my eyes and I could see perfectly,” said Jimena, a 16-year-old Spanish World Youth Day pilgrim who sai… […]
A family sits in a tent at camp for refugees at Kenya’s border town with Ethiopia, Moyale, about 484 miles north of capital Nairobi, on March 17, 2018 after fleeing Ethiopia. / Brian Ongoro/AFP via Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 7, 2023 / 15:40 pm (CNA).
In a statement issued Aug 7, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace called on global leaders to do more to ensure food security for all.
Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, cited numbers from the World Food Programme (WFP), the global humanitarian organization addressing food security, that estimated about 258 million people in 58 countries experienced crisis-level acute hunger in 2022.
“Russia’s recent decision no longer to allow Ukraine to export tons of grain means more people are likely to go hungry,” said Malloy, who along with Pope Francis is calling on world leaders “to look beyond narrow national interests, focus on the common good, and join in ensuring that critical food supplies can flow to those most in need.”
Malloy pointed out that prior to the Russian invasion, Ukraine was considered “Europe’s breadbasket” and was the origin for large amounts of wheat, corn, and barley as well as almost half of the world’s sunflower oil — all flowing through ports on the Black Sea. Those ports were blocked when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Last June the Holy Father appealed for the end of the blockades that were preventing the flow of grain through Ukrainian seaports. Malloy’s statement provided more context for the timing of this latest appeal:
“From July 2022, the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), the U.N.-brokered agreement between Russia and Ukraine, allowed Ukraine to export about 33 million tons of grain and other agricultural products. Russia’s decision to withdraw from the BSGI and its bombing of grain storage facilities in Ukraine will greatly impact the availability of food supplies at a time when more people are in dire need of food. With the number of forcibly displaced people at a record high, the World Food Programme estimates 345 million people will face acute hunger this year, with 129,000 potentially facing famine in places like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, the Horn of Africa, and Myanmar.
As the statement acknowledged, the war in Ukraine is not the only reason food insecurity has risen globally over the last few years. Natural disasters, the pandemic, regional wars, and other conflicts have also contributed to high rates of hunger.
Haiti, for example, is in dire need. According to a U.N. report, a total of 4.9 million people — which is nearly half the population of the country — are experiencing acute food insecurity, and large numbers affected are children. The Guardian reported that the WFP will be unable to feed 100,000 Haitians this month because it has insufficient funding to meet the needs.
“Surging food inflation in Haiti means the cost of feeding each person has increased while the number of those in need of assistance has also grown, driving up the cost of delivering WFP aid,” the Guardian article reported.
On the other side of the world, northern Ethiopia is another nation suffering from acute food insecurity. Countries in the horn of Africa rely on Ukrainian grain, and the Tigray region is just emerging from one of the worst recent conflicts following two years of fighting between Ethiopia’s federal army and regional forces. The conflict has created millions of refugees; high rates of death, injury, and trauma; and widespread food insecurity. A persistent drought has made food scarcity even worse and earlier this summer the U.S. suspended food aid there due to reports that government officials were diverting food aid. More than 20 million people in Ethiopia rely on food assistance.
Bishop Malloy ended the appeal by the bishops with a poignant reminder that many of our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering. “The most vulnerable are crying in hunger. With the compassion of Christ, we need to heed their cries and help,” he said.
Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Knights of Columbus
Orlando, Fla., Aug 7, 2023 / 15:20 pm (CNA).
The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal service organization, is setting its sights on the souls of men.In an… […]
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