Pope Francis waves to pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis on Monday clarified that the f… […]
Black smoke billows over the city after drone strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Sept. 19, 2023, amid Russia’s military invasion on Ukraine. Drones attacked Ukraine’s western city of Lviv early on Sept. 19, and explosions rang out, causing a warehouse fire and wounding at least one person. / Credit: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis called for an end to global production and use of anti-personnel explosives in a message delivered at an international summit on abolishing landmines, one week after U.S. President Joe Biden approved Ukraine’s use of American land mines in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Conflicts are a failure of humanity to live as a single human family,” the Holy Father expressed in his letter, which was read by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin at the Fifth Review Conference on the Convention of Anti-Personnel Landmines in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
“These treacherous devices continue to cause terrible suffering to civilians, especially children,” he added.
The International Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, is an international agreement to end the production and use of anti-personnel mines that went into force in March 1999. One hundred and sixty-four state parties have formally agreed to abide by the agreement, including Ukraine.
The pope “urges all states that have not yet done so to accede to the convention, and in the meantime to cease immediately the production and use of land mines,” Parolin stated to the delegation.
The United States, Russia, and China are among the 33 states which have not yet agreed to abide by the agreement.
Francis also appealed to countries that have already entered into the agreement, urging them to renew their commitment to end use of the explosives, stressing that any delays in doing so “will inevitably increase the human cost.”
The Holy Father’s urgent appeal to the convention comes one week after President Biden approved the provision of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, in order to bolster its defense against Russian advances in the east.
Biden’s move to authorize the controversial explosives follows closely his decision to give Ukraine permission to fire long-range American missiles at Russia. The Kremlin has responded by lowering the threshold in which it would use its nuclear arsenal.
The Pope this week further recognized the work of the land mine conference, and all of those dedicated to ending use of land mines, as well as those who assist victims’ families.
The Holy Father prayed that the objectives of the conference inspired by the treaty “may become an important step towards a world free of landmines and ensure a truly integral and restorative assistance to victims.”
Francis himself delivered a similar pro-peace message at an event on the same day, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Argentina and Chile.
“We do well to commemorate those intense negotiations that, with papal mediation, avoided the armed conflict about to set two brother peoples against each other and concluded with a dignified, reasonable and equitable solution,” the Holy Father said in his address.
“In this regard, how can I not refer to the many ongoing armed conflicts that remain still unresolved, despite the fact that they cause immense sufferings for the countries at war and the entire human family,” Francis said, further rebuking countries “where there is much talk of peace [but where] the highest yielding investments are in the production of arms.”
“I simply mention two failures of humanity today: Ukraine and Palestine, where people are suffering, where the arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue,” he told the delegation. Francis has been vocal in his opposition to the ongoing conflicts in both regions since their respective beginnings.
Last November, my wife and I traveled to Boston to visit our son. While there, he took us to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, an extraordinarily rich institution still—surprisingly—not overtaken by extreme wokeness. The […]
null / Credit: RasyidArt, Shutterstock.
CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2024 / 13:07 pm (CNA).
The superintendent of a Wisconsin Catholic school system has been fired along with a high school principal after officials there reportedly found violations of di… […]
Facade of St. Peter’s Basilica / Credit: Nils Huber / Unsplash
Vatican City, Nov 26, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).
The Vatican may make “spiritual abuse” a formalized crime in Church law, rather than merely an aggravating circumstance of other crimes.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is forming a working group with the Dicastery for Legislative Texts with “the task of analyzing this possibility and presenting concrete proposals” on the matter, according to a paper from the doctrine office dated Nov. 22 and posted online this week.
According to the note, which was signed by DDF Prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and approved by Pope Francis, the term “false mysticism” is an “overly broad and ambiguous expression” in need of refining in certain contexts in the Church.
The term appears in the DDF’s regulations related to “problems and behavior connected with the discipline of the faith, such as cases of pseudo-mysticism, alleged apparitions, visions, and messages attributed to supernatural origin,” the note observes.
The expression “false mysticism” is also sometimes used by canon lawyers in the context of crimes of abuse, though it is currently not a delict, or crime, according to canon law, the document said.
The DDF said that “false mysticism” also appears in the dicastery’s 2024 document Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, where it is specified that “the use of purported supernatural experiences or recognized mystical elements as a means of or a pretext for exerting control over people or carrying out abuses is to be considered of particular moral gravity.”
At a press conference introducing the norms in May, Cardinal Fernández warned about the ambiguity of the term “false mysticism” and the need to clarify its use.
Church authorities “must be careful…false mysticism is used a lot and in a lot of different ways,” he said.
The term can have “one meaning for one theologian and another meaning for another theologian; for some canonists it has one meaning, for others it has a broader meaning,” he added.
Fernández said the Church “must explain well what the crime is, but not use the term ‘false mysticism.’”
It is “possible to classify a delict of ‘spiritual abuse,’ avoiding the overly broad and ambiguous expression of ‘false mysticism’,” the letter this week says.
The working group will be chaired by the prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Italian Bishop Filippo Iannone.
The late Monsignor Thomas Oleghe, the oldest priest in Nigeria, who died on the feast of Christ the King, Nov. 24, at the age of 104. / Credit: Diocese of Auchi
ACI Africa, Nov 26, 2024 / 11:19 am (CNA).
Father Thomas Oleghe, the oldest priest … […]
Georgetown University, located in Washington, DC, is the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university. / Credit: Rob Crandall, Shutterstock.
CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
When Georgetown Law student Brittany Lovely, who is scheduled to give birth in December, shortly before final exams, asked for permission to take her test early, late, or remotely, the answer she got from the Catholic university was a flat denial.
Citing university policy, the school’s administrators told Lovely that granting her accommodations would be “inequitable to other non-birthing students in her class,” she told the Washington Post.
“Motherhood is not for the faint of heart,” she said she was told. Her was given a choice: she could either take the exam soon after childbirth with her newborn or fail and request to withdraw from the class. Even when her doctor weighed in, calling Lovely’s request both “reasonable and necessary,” the law school refused to budge.
Only after students banded together to organize a petition, which quickly went viral, did Lovely get permission to schedule her exam ahead of the birth of her baby.
Lovely said in a letter shared with CNA that she has “finally received the accommodations I’ve been requesting for months for my upcoming finals,” but shared her fear that other pregnant students may face similar challenges with the administration.
The university changed its exam accommodations and deferral policy “for this semester only,” Lovely explained. She requested that the university “make a public commitment to reforming its policies regarding accommodations moving forward,” she noted in the letter.
“They agreed to work with me on a just and equitable policy agenda for pregnant, childbearing, and childrearing students in the coming months,” Lovely said of Georgetown Law.
A university spokesperson confirmed with CNA that the administration “reached a mutually agreeable solution” with Lovely. The university declined to comment on the specifics of Lovely’s case.
“Georgetown is committed to providing a caring, supportive environment for pregnant and parenting students,” the spokesperson said, noting that Georgetown provides resources for students “while they are pregnant or parenting including pregnancy-related adjustments from the Office of Title IX Compliance, and disability accommodations from our Academic Resource Center.”
But for Lovely, “the fight is not over yet.”
“No student should be forced to choose between their education, health, or the health of their family,” she said. “My classmates and I will continue advocating until it is certain Georgetown Law does not force any students to make that choice again.”
At Georgetown Law, only the Office of Registrar has the power to grant exam deferrals and exam rescheduling for finals, not the professor.
Georgetown Law will consider exam deferrals for several reasons, including “childbirth during the exam period or immediately preceding the exam period,” according to its website. The administration will also consider deferrals for physical or mental illness, a death in the family, car accidents, religious observance, military commitment, and other “extraordinary circumstances.”
But according to Lovely, she is not the only one who has faced challenges getting accommodations.
Peers and alumni “have shared their own horror stories of trying to get reasonable accommodations at Georgetown Law for their childbirth, medical emergencies, and disabilities, only to be offered a generalized solution of more time for an exam,” Lovely said. “They have told me the callous responses to their requests during their most vulnerable times.”
“As I have said from the beginning, this was never just about me — this is about all pregnant, childbearing, and childrearing students and about all students with disabilities or those needing accommodations, present and future,” Lovely said.
Lovely’s classmates launched the petition on her behalf last week, stating that “Georgetown Law has a legal and moral duty to support pregnant students during the regular school year or finals.”
Post-partum recovery usually takes about six weeks after childbirth. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “the weeks following birth are a critical period for a woman and her infant, setting the stage for long-term health and well-being.” Childbirth often comes with medical challenges that require a long recovery, especially if a woman faces medical issues such as tearing or Cesarean section.
“Georgetown Law suggested Brittany bring her days-old child to campus a few days after birth, with minimal recovery, to take the exam with more time so she can breastfeed her newborn baby during the exam,” the petition noted. “They told her, ‘Motherhood is not for the Faint of Heart.’”
Newborn babies need to be fed every two to three hours and are more susceptible to germs as their immune systems are not fully developed, meaning they are at a higher risk of developing infections. Few babies are born on their exact due date, and physicians often advise that parents avoid bringing their newborn to crowded places.
Based in Washington, D.C., Georgetown University is a Jesuit university and the first Catholic higher education institution in the United States. According to its website, Georgetown University aims to approach education from the central Jesuit tenet of “cura personalis,” a Latin phrase meaning “care of the whole person.”
One alum, Max Siegel II, argued that the administration’s refusal of Lovely’s accommodation “contradicts this fundamental value.”
“Cura Personalis calls on us to provide care and individualized attention to each person, respecting their unique circumstances and concerns,” Siegel said in a post in which he urged students to sign the petition. Siegel heads the Student Bar Association, the law school’s student government.
The Catholic Church teaches the importance of the “Life and Dignity of the Human Person,” one of seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching. “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2270).
In line with this teaching, some Catholic colleges such as Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina and the University of Mary in North Dakota offer maternity housing programs for student mothers. UMary’s maternity home program made headlines last year after its first student mom graduated with her daughter.
In addition to concerns that the administration’s attitude goes against the university’s Jesuit Catholic values, supporters of Lovely said that Georgetown’s decision violated Title IX, the federal civil rights law designed to prevent discrimination against women in higher education institutions that receive public funding.
Siegel, and the student-led petition, noted that the administration “fails to meet the requirements of Title IX, which ensures a fair and equitable educational environment for all students.”
“Title IX prohibits education institutions from discriminating against students based on sex, including current, potential, or past pregnancy or related conditions,” the petition noted. “An accommodation is not unreasonable and must be offered by the school unless it ‘fundamentally alters’ the nature of its program.”
Lovely said she was particularly concerned that Georgetown cited equity as a reason for denying pregnancy accommodations.
“I want to make it clear — an inequitable policy, for example, is one that forces me (or any student) to spend time fightingfor a basic right under the law rather than preparing for my finals like the rest of my peers,” she said. “An equitable policy is one where no student has to go to these great lengths again to receive reasonable accommodations.”
Credit: Panelists at the 2024 International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit on Jan. 30-31, 2024 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. Credit: IRF Summit. / Credit: International Religious Freedom Summit
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