South African bishops welcome president’s resignation

Rocket shells are left on the grass outside a house where civilians and soldiers were killed by Hamas militants days earlier, Oct. 11, 2023 in Be’eri, Israel. / Credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2023 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

An Israeli man told EWTN News this week that his niece is among those who were kidnapped by Hamas, stating that Israeli citizens are “strong” and “resilient” but admitting that his family is struggling with “unbearable” thoughts of the young woman’s captivity. 

Elad Levy told “EWTN News Nightly” host Tracy Sabol on Monday that his 19-year-old niece Roni Eshel was last heard from on Saturday, Oct. 7, just prior to the beginning of the attacks.  

“We saw the attacks. We went to our shelters and went to our safe rooms here where we live,” he said. “There was a barrage of rockets like we haven’t seen — I have never seen something like it in terms of the quantity in the areas that it spanned.” 

“And the last time that we heard from Roni was at 9:30 a.m.,” he said, describing his niece as a “typical” teenager who likes Taylor Swift and who is fun to be around.

Asked by Sabol if the family has received “any confirmation” of the young woman’s whereabouts, Levy said they have not confirmed her location but believe she was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and is being held in Gaza.

“Her parents on Sunday, just after the Oct. 7 attacks that Saturday, went to all the hospitals in Israel, and we couldn’t find her as well,” he said. “And we got a formal notice that she is missing. We are under the belief that she’s hostage in Gaza, held by the Hamas terrorists.”

Levy said Eshel and her mother exchanged brief texts before the former’s disappearance. “Mom, don’t worry, I’m okay,” he said Roni Eshel wrote. “Her mother replied, ‘I love you.’ And she said again, ‘Don’t worry. I’m okay. I love you.’”

Asked what the family’s biggest concern is as it awaits word from Eshel, Levy said it was “a very difficult question to answer.” 

“I think we’re concerned,” he said. “Where is she now? Is she hurt? If Hamas, you know, holds her — you’ve seen these terrorists, what they are capable of. I’m sure you’ve seen all the videos, the cruelty, the brutality, the savageness.” 

“And so being held by this group of terrorists, it’s unbearable thinking,” he said.

The Israeli people “can’t sugarcoat it,” Levy said. 

“You know, 1,300 people are believed to be dead right now,” he said. “It touches every family. I heard that a good friend of mine from high school was confirmed dead;  another friend of mine, his son was confirmed dead. So it touches everybody.”

“At the same time, you know, we’re resilient people,” he said. “We are very strong, the spirit is high with that respect. And for the coming days, we’re ready for everything.” 

“We trust our troops, we trust our military, our army, to finish and to do the job,” he said. 

The full interview with Levy on “EWTN News Nightly” can be viewed below.

[…]

Kigali, Rwanda, Apr 25, 2019 / 11:47 am (CNA).- The Catholic bishops of Rwanda have apologized for calling for the release of old and ill prisoners convicted for crimes committed during the country’s 1994 genocide.

“We wrote to Christians, encouraging them to continue promoting unity and reconciliation, while also seeking forgiveness,” the bishops said in an April 7 statement signed by Bishop Phillippe Rukamba of Butare, the president of the Rwandan bishops’ conference.

“This letter caused a lot of hurt, especially for what we requested on behalf of the elderly and sickest who are still in prison for the crime of genocide. We are saddened it offended people – this was not what we intended,” the bishops said.

The bishops had issued a pastoral letter March 25 commemorating the victims of the genocide, urging reconciliation and forgiveness in the face of violence, but including a sentence exhorting those responsible for older or sick perpetrators to “examine whether their sentences can be reduced.”

Twenty-five years ago this month, ethnic tensions in Rwanda boiled over as members of the Hutu ethnic majority took up machetes and turned on their minority Tutsi neighbors, friends, and colleagues, killing them based on the color of their skin and the width of their nose.

In the 100-day genocide that followed, it is estimated that 1 million people were slaughtered.

Rwandans marked the anniversary of the tragedy April 7 at the Genocide Memorial Center in the capital city of Kigali. President Paul Kagame and leaders from Africa and the European Union were in attendance, the Catholic Information Service for Africa reported.

The bishops apologized for issuing the pastoral letter during the period of commemoration.

“After this tragedy of genocide against the Tutsis, the light of the Lord’s resurrection was not quenched –asking and giving forgiveness can become a means of building a tomorrow for everyone,” the bishops said.

In the 1994 genocide, clergy members were included in the ranks of both perpetrators and victims. In some cases, Hutu priests, bishops. and religious helped to hide and protect Tutsis. In other cases, they took up arms against them, ushering them into church buildings with false promises of security and then trapping and betraying them, facilitating their massacre.

The Church has since played a large role in helping to promote reconciliation and forgiveness. More than half of Rwanda’s population is Catholic.

The country’s bishops in November 2016 issued an official apology for Christians’ role in the genocide.

“We apologize for all the wrongs the Church committed. We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God’s commandments,” they wrote.

[…]

The Iraqi flag. / Credit: Alyaa99 / CC BY-SA 4.0

ACI MENA, Nov 29, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Recent attempts to amend Iraq’s Personal Status Law — a civil set of laws regarding family life — have sparked significant controversy. The proposed amend… […]