The Catholic University of Erbil in Ankawa, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need. / null
Königstein, Germany, May 10, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).
A Catholic charity said on Monday that there are “signs of hope” for Iraq’s beleaguered Christian minority despite insecurity, economic challenges, and political instability.
Speakers from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a pontifical foundation offering financial support to Iraqi Christians, gave a cautiously optimistic assessment of the community’s future at a virtual press conference on May 9.
Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN International, told journalists that he had recently returned from his third visit to the Middle Eastern country.
He said that on his first visit, in 2014, there was an atmosphere of fear amid the advance of the Islamic State. On the second, in 2018, “the whole mood was very depressed.”
“And now, 2022, there are a lot of signs of hope,” he said, “and still a lot of requirements for the Iraqi government, but also the international community, to support the development of the whole country, including of the autonomous province of Kurdistan and the different villages and towns which are inhabited by Christians.”
John Pontifex, head of press and information at ACN UK, said he had a similar impression when he visited the Muslim-majority country of 40 million people earlier this year.
Noting that the Christian population had fallen from around 1.3 million before 2003 to perhaps as low as 150,000 today, he said: “I’ve been following Iraq for 20 years — all the time I’ve worked with Aid to the Church in Need — and I think this trip showed the most signs of hope in terms of steps forward to address this large-scale decline.”
Regina Lynch described the impact of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking visit to Iraq in March 2021.
The director of projects at ACN International, who traveled as part of the papal delegation, said: “I saw for myself how encouraged and moved the Iraqi Christians were by the pope’s visit.”
“Pope Francis’ visit, I think, really has given them hope and a hope that seems to be lasting.”
The speakers highlighted developments such as the growth of the Catholic University in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region, northern Iraq, while cautioning that the Christian community required ongoing international support.
Pontifex said that the most moving part of his trip to Iraq was a visit to the predominantly Christian town of Batnaya in the Nineveh Plains.
He said: “Batnaya was the most destroyed of the 13 or more Christian towns and villages. And when I went there in 2017, it was completely laid to waste. It was Armageddon. It was absolute devastation, not a stone upon a stone such was the extent of it.”
“It was there that we found these graffiti written by Daesh [Islamic State]. One of them said, for example, ‘All you slaves of the Cross, you will have no peace in the Islamic land. Either you go or we will kill you.’ Well, in fact, it is Islamic State which have gone, at least for now.”
He went on: “Up to 500 people, we were told, are back now in Batnaya and we were there as they were laying the flagstones of the church. They were sanding down the new marble altar, all in time for the Easter services. And even though those preparations were not quite complete, they were nonetheless able to celebrate Easter Mass.”
“This is the first time that they’ve been able to have Mass in this great church since before ISIS. And with the official opening of the Al-Tahira school on May 1, the return of St. Kyriakos’ Church to use, these are symbols, signs of real hope.”
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Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly speaks with EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado on Thursday, July 11, 2024, regarding the organization’s decision to cover mosaics by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik in chapels in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. / Credit: EWTN News
Rome Newsroom, Jul 11, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
The Knights of Columbus announced Thursday they will cover mosaics by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut, a dramatic move that represents the strongest public stand yet by a major Catholic organization regarding the former Jesuit’s embattled art.
The 2.1-million-member lay Catholic fraternal order said July 11 it would use fabric to cover the floor-to-ceiling mosaics in the two chapels of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington and in the chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut — at least until the completion of a formal Vatican investigation into the Slovenian priest’s alleged abuse.
Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, told EWTN News Thursday the opaque material would be installed “very soon” but gave no firm timetable. The Knights said in a statement released Thursday afternoon that the artwork may later be more permanently hidden with a plaster covering after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues its ruling on Rupnik.
The decision by the Knights to cover the sprawling works, which envelop both spaces, was made at the end of a comprehensive, confidential review process that included consultations with sexual abuse victims and those who minister to them, art historians, pilgrims to the shrine, bishops, and moral theologians.
“The Knights of Columbus have decided to cover these mosaics because our first concern must be for victims of sexual abuse, who have already suffered immensely in the Church, and who may be further injured by the ongoing display of the mosaics at the shrine,” Kelly said in the statement.
“While opinions varied among those consulted,” he said, “there was a strong consensus to prioritize the needs of victims, especially because the allegations are current, unresolved, and horrific.”
Kelly reiterated that point in his interview with EWTN News.
“Our decision process really came down to multiple factors. But the No. 1 factor was compassion for victims,” Kelly said. “We needed to prioritize victims over anything, any material thing. So that was our primary consideration.”
The first segment of Kelly’s interview with EWTN News will air on “EWTN News Nightly” Thursday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET. Additional comments will air on “EWTN News In Depth” on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly speaks with EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado on Thursday, July 11, 2024, regarding the organization’s decision to cover mosaics by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik in chapels in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. Credit: EWTN News
Once a renowned artist Rupnik, whose mosaics are featured in hundreds of Catholic shrines, churches, and chapels around the world, was expelled from the Jesuits in June 2023.
His expulsion followed a long review of what the society called “highly credible” accusations of serial spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse of as many as 30 religious sisters by the priest spanning decades. Some women allege Rupnik’s abuse sometimes happened as part of the process of creating his art at the Centro Aletti, an art school he founded in Rome.
The Vatican announced in late October 2023 that Pope Francis had waived the statute of limitations in the Rupnik case, allowing the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to do a canonical investigation into the abuse allegations.
There has been no further communication from the Vatican about the inquiry, and it is unclear whether Rupnik may still be living in Rome despite having been given priestly faculties in a diocese of his home country of Slovenia last year.
Growing public outcry
What to do with Rupnik’s once widely-praised works, colorful mosaics characterized by grand, flowing figures and large eyes, has proven to be a divisive question in the wake of the numerous allegations against him, which first came to public attention in December 2022.
While some want to await Vatican judgment before dismantling and replacing Rupnik’s works, much of it made in collaboration with other artists of the Centro Aletti — a Rupnik-founded art school and theological center in Rome — the public outcry for the removal of his art has intensified.
The Knights also announced several immediate changes that would be enacted at the shrine in solidarity with abuse victims, including providing educational materials about the mosaics, making clear that their display during the consultation process “was not intended to ignore, deny, or diminish the allegations of abuse.”
Every Mass at the St. John Paul II National Shrine will now also include a prayer of the faithful for victims of sexual abuse, and saints with connections to abuse victims, such as St. Josephine Bakhita, will be specially commemorated.
The group said it became aware of the allegations against Rupnik in December 2022 — and noted that the artist, while under investigation, remains a priest in good standing in the Diocese of Koper, Slovenia.
“This decision is rooted in a foundational purpose of the Knights of Columbus, which is to protect families, especially women and children, and those who are vulnerable and voiceless,” Kelly said in the July 11 statement.
The “Redemptor Hominis” chapel of the National Shrine of St John Paul II in Washington, DC, is decorated with mosaics by Fatherr Marko Rupnik. Credit: Lawrence OP|Flickr|CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The St. John Paul II National Shrine is a pastoral initiative of the Knights of Columbus, established in 2011, and designated a national shrine by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2014.
Rupnik’s mosaics were installed at the shrine in 2015. The Holy Family Chapel at the Knights’ headquarters has featured Rupnik’s art since 2005.
Highlighting the John Paul II shrine’s mission of evangelization, the supreme knight said, “the art we sponsor must therefore serve as a stepping stone — not a stumbling block — to faith in Jesus Christ and his Church.”
Rupnik has not made any statements since the allegations came to light.
An eye on Lourdes
The Knights’ move to conceal the mosaics follows just a week after the bishop of Lourdes, France, said that despite his personal feelings that Rupnik’s artwork at the renowned Marian shrine there should be removed, he has decided to wait to make a final decision due to “strong opposition on the part of some.”
After forming a special commission in May 2023, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes announced July 2 that more time was needed “to discern what should be done” about Rupnik’s mosaics at the Marian apparition site, because his belief that they should be torn down “would not be sufficiently understood” and “would add even more division and violence” at this time.
As a “first step,” the French bishop said he had decided the mosaics will no longer be lit up at night during the shrine’s nightly candlelight rosary processions.
In his interview with EWTN News, Kelly said the Lourdes bishop’s intent to make a decision of some kind this spring galvanized the Knights to act at this time.
In his July 11 statement, Kelly thanked the Lourdes bishop for his “thoughtful decision” and said it “both informed and confirmed us in our own decision-making. Shrines are places of healing, prayer, and reconciliation. They should not cause victims further suffering.”
Emphasizing the importance of discernment based on mission and context, the supreme knight said: “Every situation is different. In the United States, Catholics continue to suffer in a unique way from the revelations of sexual abuse and, at times, from the response of the Church. It is clear to us that, as a national shrine, our decision must respect this country’s special need for healing.”
The Knights of Columbus was founded in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882 by Blessed Michael McGivney, a parish priest. Dedicated to the advancement of the group’s key principles — charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism — its members in 2022 provided 50 million service hours and nearly $185 million to charitable causes in their communities.
National Catholic Register Editor-in-Chief Shannon Mullen contributed to this story.
Rain did not deter the hundreds of men gathered as part of the Men’s Rosary in Bogota, Colombia, Oct. 8, 2022, to pray the rosary for the victims of abortion. / Photo credit: Eduardo Berdejo/Twitter
ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 12, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Hundreds of men gathered Oct. 8 in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes in Bogotá, Colombia, to join the worldwide Men’s Rosary, reciting the Marian prayer under the rain that fell on the Colombian capital.
The Men’s Rosary was held Oct. 8 in dozens of countries, an initiative originating in Poland and Ireland in 2018 and that in a few years has spread to other nations on different dates.
The Oct. 8 Men’s Rosary was the first to be held worldwide. The goal was for the rosary to be recited 24 hours a day in some city on the planet.
In Colombia, the Men’s Rosary was prayed in Cali, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Bogotá, and other cities.
In Bogota, the men — who were accompanied by some women — gathered in the Plaza de Bolívar and on the esplanade of the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes.
A video shows that a few minutes after the prayer began, rain began falling on the assembled men, but it didn’t stop them from continuing to recite the prayer, with some even on their knees.
While some of the faithful covered themselves with umbrellas, others remained on their knees without any protection.
During the reflections for the mysteries, the faithful prayed for aborted children, their families, and for the authorities.
The prayer in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes was organized by the Rosario de San José group, joined by other lay organizations such as the Movement of Catholic Solidarity, Mission for the love of God throughout the world, Lazos de Amor Mariano (Bonds of Marian love), Regnum Christi, and others.
Why a Men’s Rosary?
On their website, the originators of the Men’s Rosary state that the objective is to fulfill the will of the Virgin Mary, which is the will of her Son, Jesus Christ.
They note that “the role of men in God’s plan is to protect for eternal life all those whom God has given us here on earth.”
“Just as St. Joseph was the earthly protector of the Holy Family, we also have the task of defending the sanctity of our families and loved ones. We want to do it together, in a community of men. In this unity, we strengthen our male identity and masculine virtues,” the promoters of the prayer movement explain.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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