BBC mini-series captures daily life of Benedictine monks

Cardinal Blase Cupich. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

CNA Newsroom, Jul 14, 2023 / 10:35 am (CNA).
Cardinal Blase Cupich recently expressed confidence in the intentions behind the German Synodal Way while warning of divisions and praising the pontificate… […]

Valencia, Spain, Jun 13, 2018 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Valencia, Spain is preparing resources for more than 600 immigrants on board a rescue boat that was denied entry into Italy this week.

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia said God is calling the local people to welcome the immigrants.

“We can’t let these people who are suffering be stranded.”

On June 11, the government of Italy refused entrance to 629 immigrants on board the Aquarius, a humanitarian aid vessel operated by SOS Mediterranée and Doctors Without Borders, two groups that rescue immigrants on small vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.

Among the passengers are 123 children and seven pregnant women.

The government of Spain has offered to receive the immigrants – mainly sub-Saharan Africans – and is opening the port of Valencia for their arrival.

After hearing this news, Cardinal Cañizares launched a coordination office to connect the immigrants with resources from the archdiocese.

The network includes charities, parishes, and diocesan schools, as well as aid groups that are already involved in helping immigrants in the city.

In an interview with the TreceTv network, Cardinal Cañizares explained that “in cooperation with the public administration,” they have made available “buildings, homes, personnel to help with everything that may be needed.”

“We stand ready, simply, so that these poor people who have had to leave their homeland and go through so many calamities on the Mediterranean, that when they reach us they feel welcome and treated as persons, with every effort made to help them,” the cardinal said.

Besides providing for basic needs, Cardinal Cañizares said he hopes the immigrants find “great affection and love.”

According to media outlets, the immigrants will undergo a medical examination after arriving in Valencia. The authorities will then determine whether they will be classified as refugees or undocumented immigrants without proper legal status. Categorization as a refugee allows for lodging without police supervision and a small monetary allowance.

According to Cardinal Cañizares, the Red Cross will be in charge of the first phase of care, then after that the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and the diocese’s Caritas and immigration services will take over.

“Starting next week, we will collaborate on the more specific aspects of receiving them, not only basic but also ongoing needs, such as education and foster care,” he said.

The local Church will also help in offering healthcare services, as many of the immigrants may be in poor health from their countries of origin or their time on the Mediterranean Sea.

“Europe is very privileged, [it] can share what it has and it can share more of what it does,” the cardinal said.

Noting the Christian roots of Europe, he stressed that “we cannot hide that, without incurring the betrayal of Europe itself.”
 

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Members of an Italian pro-life and pro-family organization marched in the “Demonstration for Life” May 20, 2023, with a banner saying “There’s life in the mother’s womb. Let’s care for it. #stopabortion” / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, May 20, 2023 / 12:48 pm (CNA).

Thousands of individuals, families, and young people braved the cool, rainy weather to march in Italy’s national “Demonstration for Life” in Rome on Saturday afternoon.

The walk May 20 started at Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica, close to the central Termini train station, and slowly wound its way past the Basilica of St. Mary Major, down the thoroughfare of Merulana Street, to the square in front of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The route was about 1.2 miles.

Formerly called the “March for Life,” the name was changed last year when new leadership took over the event.

The president of the organizing group, Massimo Gandolfini, told EWTN News earlier this month that the demonstration is not associated with a specific political party.

“We do politics with a capital ‘P’,” the neurosurgeon and adoptive father of seven said. “That is, defense of life, defense of the natural family, defense of the educational freedom of parents. This is our politics…”

He said the goals of the organization include establishing a national day for unborn life and a government fund to help pregnant women in difficulty. They also hope to cultivate more recognition of the beauty of motherhood in the culture.

Gandolfini added that the organizers are opposed to the legalization in Italy of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and surrogacy.

“We are strongly opposed to all of these because first of all there is the right of the child,” he said.

The event concluded with speakers and a rally outside the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

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