News Briefs

‘Do you stand by what you believe?’- Mosebach on ISIS killings

March 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 2

Rome, Italy, Mar 3, 2018 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Martin Mosebach is the author of “The 21: A Journey into the Land of the Coptic Martyrs.” Walter Mayr, Rome correspondent of German magazine Der SPIEGEL recently interviewed Mosebach, and has authorized CNA to publish a translation of that interview.

Walter Mayr: Mr. Mosebach, your book “The 21: A Journey into the Land of the Coptic Martyrs” is about those Coptic Christians who were beheaded on a Libyan beach in 2015 by ISIS henchmen. Why did you choose this subject matter?

Martin Mosebach: The subject matter came to me when I saw a picture of one of those decapitated heads – it was a face expressing a peculiar peace, a peculiar trance. The picture then did not let me go and I decided to describe what the life of these 21 men was like before they were beheaded. And so I just headed out, I went to Upper Egypt and tried to learn more from the social circle of those executed.

What makes this particular case special for you, compared to other atrocities committed by ISIS?

Terrorist attacks are usually directed against people who have not been asked about their stance on religion. But these people were questioned by ISIS after over 40 days of imprisonment; and they stood by their religion, making this a less common case. After all, terror actually is predicated on the fact that it can strike anyone who can be called “innocent.” By the way, most ISIS victims are Muslims. Here, the victims, Christian Copts, were asked at gunpoint: “Do you stand by what you believe?”

Where did you see the entire video for the first time and how can one endure watching it?

I first saw the entire video, the unabridged version showing the actual decapitation, on the laptops of the relatives of the murdered. In El-Or, in Upper Egypt. In the cowshed, so to speak, or in the houses of the families. On YouTube you can now find a sanitized version. But there, in the community of brothers, the cousins, the fathers, this is considered with composure. And with pride. They will point to their relatives in the row of the beheaded, to their brother, and say, “this is our Samuel, this is our Abanoub.”

Is that what fascinated or astonished you most at the behavior of the victims and later of the bereaved?

I went to Upper Egypt with the image in mind that we have in the West of persecuted Christianity in the Middle East. Instead I encountered a strong, growing, large, determined church full of people who in no way appeared to be pushed up against the wall, but instead really perceived the martyrdom as a great triumph, just like in the first Christian centuries.

By “Growing Church” you mean to say that the number of Coptic believers is growing?

In any case, it is much larger than what we read about here in Germany, where there is talk of eight or nine percent of the Egyptian population. Although that also would be quite a lot of people, given there are 90 million Egyptians. The Coptic bishops, however, assert that the number is closer to 25 percent of the population. There are no official statistics though, as that is not in the state’s interest.

What is the everyday life of the Copts in Al-Sisi’s Egypt like?

There is persecution, there is also legal disqualification, a Copt can not obtain a leadership position, can not become general, broadcasting director, university rector, minister, and a Muslim may not obey a Copt. But that does not prevent this group from forming a state in the state, a community that holds its head up high. After all, there is no other place that the Copts could go – they have to stay, this is their home, they are the actual descendants of the Pharaohs. The Turkish approach of yesteryear, to completely dispel the Armenians and the Greek, can not work with this number of people. When I’m in a Coptic church, I don’t get the sense of being in an underground community. The churches built after Mubarak’s fall are huge, and the towers are sometimes higher than the minarets of the mosques.

Could the troubled Catholic Church, which you so often criticize, learn from the Coptic Christians?

Yes, that it could: namely, that one must proclaim the Faith, instead of hiding one’s cross on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, like Cardinal Marx did – a Copt could not do that, because he has his cross tattooed on the back of his hand, between his thumb and forefinger. The Jews were forced to wear the Star [of David] in Germany, the Copt fashions himself his own cross.

Whilst working there, did you ask yourself how you would behave, if you found yourself in such a situation?

But of course one asks oneself the question. I realized that this is a challenge I too would have to face. Whether I would live up to it is another matter.

What role does Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi when it comes to the Copts and religious conflicts in general?

This man is not to be envied for his office.

Are you being serious?

He ousted the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood representative, President Mursi, now there is a military dictatorship and, among the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, seething rage over this act of violence against a democratically elected head of state. This anger is also directed against the Copts, many of whom of course do rely on the dictatorship, since Mursi wanted to largely deprive them of their rights.

That sounds like Sisi is the lesser evil for the Copts.

Yes, but he makes himself the mortal enemy of a large part of his own people. For example, in the village of El-Or, the construction of a cathedral for the Copts was personally promoted by Sisi himself. He also personally attends mass at Christmas, Easter, as well as requiems. He is trying to stabilize things, trying to keep a lid on this explosive pressure cooker.

You are likely to draw criticism from conservatives that your book avoids pointing out the perpetrators clearly enough, given how it eschews the “Islamic State” stereotype.

Islamism was less interesting to me in this particular case. What mattered to me was the role of martyrdom. It is inseparable from the Christian message.

 

Anian Christoph Wimmer translated this interview from German.

 

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Catholic lawyer voices concern at Supreme Court’s immigrant bond ruling

March 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Washington D.C., Mar 2, 2018 / 07:20 pm (CNA).- After the Supreme Court rejected the idea that detained immigrants are entitled to periodic bond hearings, a Catholic immigration lawyer warned that detention centers take a toll on those who spend long periods of time there.

“I was just recently in a facility in South Texas where they were detaining children and families and it was an old Walmart that had been converted into a jail like facility,” said Michelle Saenz-Rodriguez, who serves on the Dallas bishop’s Immigration Task Force.

The detention facility has a “bathroom in the middle of the room. You don’t have any privacy, which really makes people feel that…they don’t have any dignity,” Saenz-Rodriguez told CNA.

“A lot of people are depressed…they have suffered violence in their country and now they really need treatment,” she continued.

On Feb. 27, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that periodic bond hearings are not required for detained immigrants who face possible deportation.

The class-action lawsuit, Jennings vs. Rodriguez, was brought by a collection of immigrants who have been in custody for long periods of time. It includes both immigrants who are claiming asylum and those who were detained on charges of committing a crime.

A lower court had ruled that bond hearings must be held every six months in cases where an immigrant is being detained.

Saenz-Rodriguez, a Catholic immigration lawyer who has worked with the detained for 27 years, said immigrants often refer to these detainment centers as the “hieleras” or “refrigerators” due to the constant, uncomfortably cold temperature inside.

She said that she often sees cases in which the detention time is 14-15 months or more.

“I have a client right now…who had applied for asylum in the United States and was actually deported…He was sent back to Honduras and when he was in Honduras they [a gang] tried to kill him and he was badly, badly beaten. So he makes his way back to America and he is detained at entry…not entitled to any type of bond,” said Saenz-Rodriguez. “It took us, I want to say, 16 months to get his case heard and ultimately he was granted protection.”

“Unfortunately, right now it is a broken system that is overburdened and the immigration judges, even though they want to hear cases, there is just not enough human manpower to get it done,” she said.

She added that the immigrants in question often “turn themselves in. They don’t sneak across the border. They literally walk up to the bridge or the officer and say ‘I’m here seeking protection,’ so it is not like they are catching them.”

“I mean there is a certain extent of human trafficking where you’ll see a smuggler trying to bring people across, but the vast majority of people who have asked for asylum are turning themselves in when they get to the border.”

Dr. Christopher Wolfe, a University of Dallas politics professor specializing in Constitutional Law and Catholic Social Teaching, said that “the question of whether this issue involves an injustice or not is not the same as whether the policy is unconstitutional or not. Those are two different questions.”

“I would doubt that there is Constitutional grounds for requiring bail hearings for detained immigrants. And, therefore, it seems best to me that those who think such a policy is necessary should go to Congress to get legislation for it,” he told CNA.

Saenz-Rodriguez said that she has been encouraged by Dallas Bishop Edward Burns’ involvement in seeking to serve the immigrant community in his diocese.

“He’s been out there and he immediately formed a task force of all the different sectors of the community trying to say, ‘How do we make people understand that this should not be a polarizing issue? This needs to be a humanitarian issue.’”

 

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Pro-life Democrat Lipiniski faces NARAL backed challenger

March 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Denver, Colo., Mar 2, 2018 / 02:35 pm (CNA).- Pro-life Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois faces a primary challenger backed by pro-abortion rights groups, putting a focus on the priorities of the Democratic Party and its sympathizers.
 
“I think my pro-life beliefs fit in perfectly with standing up for the little guy, the little girl, those who are most vulnerable among us. I think that fits in with the Democratic Party,” Lipinski told CNA March 1.
 
“It used to be, if you go back 40 years ago, there was not at all a partisan split between the parties on being pro-life. There were pro-life Democrats and pro-life Republicans and there were Democrats and Republicans on the other side,” he said. “Just as 40 years ago it made sense for Democrats to be pro-life, it still makes sense today.”
 
The pro-abortion rights groups EMILY’s List, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood have backed Lipinski’s primary challenger, Emily Newman, who has been endorsed by several other Democratic members of Congress ahead of the March 20 primary election in a heavily Democratic Chicago-area district. The LGBT activist group Human Rights Campaign has also backed Newman.
 
Some Democrats say NARAL’s activism is a reason Lipinski has not yet been endorsed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is in charge of helping Democratic congressional candidates.
 
NARAL’s chief financial officer, Steven Kravitz, is treasurer of an anti-Lipinski political action committee, Citizens for a Better Illinois, which in the last month has spent over $400,000 to oppose Lipinski, Politico reports.
 
Newman’s camp had its own explanation.
 
“Democratic Party institutions’ reticence(sic) to endorse Rep. Lipinski is understandable — Rep. Lipinski is a Democrat in name only,” said Newman’s campaign manager Erik Wallenius, according to Politico.
 
Lipinski, however, defended his party affiliation.
 
“I’m a Democrat because I think there are times when the government needs to stand up for those who are defenseless, those who need help,” Lipinski said, citing the needs of senior citizens on Medicare or Social Security.
 
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, said the congressman’s opponents within the party had engaged in a “misinformation campaign” trying to link him to conservative causes.
 
“When you look at his record, he’s not a conservative,” Day told CNA. “He’s been representing his district and the Democrats in his district quite well. Labor, education, environment—he has a 90-something percent lifetime record in those areas.”
 
“The traditional Democratic Party supported labor, supported education, supported working families,” she said. “Now I think the abortion lobby is trying to reinvent what it means to be a Democrat.”
 
Day stressed the importance of Lipinski’s role as co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.
 
“He’s been a huge voice for the 21 million pro-life Democrats who see him as our leader,” Day said. “He’s the one we can count on. He’s fighting there for us in Congress in trying to push the Democratic Party to be more understanding and supportive of our point of view.”
 
“His voice there is hugely important in making sure the life issue continues to be bipartisan,” she said, warning that the elimination of pro-life Democrats in Congress would harm the pro-life movement as a whole.
 
In the wake of claims Planned Parenthood violated laws against selling fetal tissue for profit, in 2015 Lipinski voted to defund the organization and transfer its funding to over 13,500 other health clinics–legislation which failed to pass the Senate. He co-sponsored a bill to add the criminal penalty of murder to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
 
In 2010, he was one of the few Democrats to vote against the Affordable Health Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, and later backed legislation intended to address concerns about abortion funding and religious freedom violations enabled by the initial legislation and President Barack Obama’s related executive order.
 
Lipinski attributed his primary challenge to an effort among some Democratic Party activists to create a “Tea Party of the Left.”
 
“They want to have a party that is pure as they define that, and so I think that’s a big reason for that (primary challenge) right now,” he said, warning that efforts to narrow the party would harm its prospects for electoral success.
 
“Democrats need to be a ‘big tent’ party,” he said.
 
“I think it’s terrible for the party at this time when we’ve lost over 1,000 seats nationwide since 2010. At the 2014 election, Democrats in the House were at our lowest point since the Great Depression when Herbert Hoover was president. We’ve come up a little bit since then but we still have a big deficit to make up.”
 
Day also thought campaigns against pro-life Democratic officeholders would harm the political prospects of Democrats, about 30 percent of whom self-describe as pro-life.
 
“I really believe the Democratic Party is listening to the wrong people right now.  Abortion on demand, taxpayer funding, pushing pro-lifers out of the party is not going to be a strategy that’s going to help us build,” she said. “This doesn’t feel like a good long-term strategy to be not backing a loyal Democrat.”

Lipinski said that pro-life Democrats who stand for election face a tough fight.
 
“The issue is more on the outside than inside the party,” he said. “There are activist groups who have a lot of influence in Democratic primaries who are on the other side. They want to defeat pro-life Democrats in primaries. That makes it much more difficult.”
 
“The party needs to step up and say ‘we will support pro-life candidates who want to run for office,’” he added. “I think the pro-life groups need to step up and understand that there’s a need to have pro-life people in both parties, and they need to step up for pro-life Democrats in primaries.”
 
Day said abortion backers will find their own candidates to run against pro-lifers.
 
“The abortion lobby has a history of targeting pro-life Democrats,” she said. In her view, the massive expenditures in a safe Democratic district “shows that the abortion lobby cares more bout their own issue than the health of the party.”
 
Lipinski, a member of the Blue Dog Democrat coalition, has the endorsement of many labor unions, and both major Chicago newspapers. On March 1, he secured the endorsement of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
 
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, as of Dec. 31 Newman had about $236,000 cash on-hand, while Lipinski had $1.6 million. His internal polling numbers put him ahead about 30 points, the Washington Examiner reports.
 
As for Democrats for Life of America, the group will be holding their annual conference in Denver July 20-22 on the theme “We Want our Party Back”
 
“We’re the party that’s supposed to protect those who need assistance, including pregnant women who don’t want to have abortions but feel that it’s their only choice,” Day said. “We want to be representing what we’re historically representing.”

 

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Cardinal Koch: Geneva visit a sign of Pope’s emphasis on ecumenism

March 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Mar 2, 2018 / 02:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday, the Vatican’s point-man on interreligious dialogue said Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Geneva, which will have a largely ecumenical theme, is a prime example of just how important the topic is for the current pontificate.

Speaking to journalists about the trip March 2, Cardinal Kurt Koch said “the pope has a very ecumenical heart. Ecumenism, the unity of Christians, is very much in the Holy Father’s heart.”

Noting how ecumenism was also a major priority coming out of the Second Vatican Council, Koch said the trip was “an adequate way” to unite the desire of the Council and that of Pope Francis.

For Francis, ecumenism “is not just an ecumenical dialogue,” but, as the pontiff has often said, it means working together, praying together and collaborating in joint initiatives.

Christians, the cardinal said, must do “everything that we can” to work for this unity.

Cardinal Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, presented the theme, relevant background and expected schedule to journalists following the official March 2 announcement of the trip by the Vatican.

Pope Francis is making the trip, which is set to take place June 21, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches.

Founded in 1948, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is a global fellowship of churches seeking to foster unity among different Christian confessions throughout the globe. It has some 348 members in 110 countries worldwide.

These members represent more than 500 million Christians, including Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist churches, as well as many Reformed, United and Independent churches.

The Holy See is not a member of the WCC, but it is an observer and routinely sends representatives to the organization’s meetings.

By visiting the WCC headquarters in Geneva, Pope Francis will follow in the steps of his two predecessors: Bl. Paul VI, who traveled to the WCC in June 1969, and St. John Paul II, who followed suit in June 1984.

John Paul II was the most recent pope to visit Switzerland, having traveled there for a six-day visit in 2004 as one of his last international trips.

The theme for Pope Francis’ visit is “Walking – Praying – Working Together.” In his presentation, Cardinal Koch said this theme reflects what the pope has defined as the “ecumenism of walking together.”

“On several occasions, the Holy Father encouraged the churches to journey together in witnessing to their faith and in facing our contemporary challenges,” he said, adding that walking together in this way helps Christians to better appreciate their common heritage and the things they already have in common.

It also allows Christians to understand the differences that still exist, particularly on doctrinal or moral issues, he said. However, while overcoming points of theological divergence is an important part of achieving unity, there is more to the process.

“It also must include collaboration for those who are in need, and for the many victims of wars, injustice, and natural disasters,” Koch said, and stressed the need to pray both for and with one another.

Though the Pope’s official schedule has yet to be released, the cardinal said the day trip would likely begin with a courtesy visit to Swiss President Alain Berset, after which Francis will head to the WCC headquarters for a moment of ecumenical prayer in the center’s chapel.

He will also attend a special session of the WCC’s Central Committee dedicated to the anniversary celebration. Afterward, the Pope is expected to celebrate Mass for the Catholic community in Switzerland before heading back to Rome.

While the majority of the founding members came from Europe and North America, currently the bulk of the WCC membership is in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific.

This change reflects wider shifts in the presence of Christians throughout the world, Koch said, and “can be an encouragement for Europeans to rediscover Christianity.”

Also present at the March 2 presentation of the trip was Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, secretary general of the WCC. Speaking to journalists, he said the Pope’s trip is “a landmark visit” and “a sign of hope not just for us, but for all who long and work for unity in the world.”

“We see it as a sign of how we as Christian churches can affirm our common calling and our mission of [serving] Christ together,” he said, adding that visits such as this are steps that help build hope for future generations.

“Hope is a critical dimension of our lives that is essential to be able to handle suffering” and the many challenges the world faced, he said, and prayed that the Pope’s visit would be a concrete sign of this hope.

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Holy See to be ‘hacked’ by first Vatican hackathon

March 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Mar 2, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A “hackathon” is a hacking marathon: a collaborative computer programming event in which a group works under a tight deadline to find software or programing approaches to real-world problems.

On March 8-11, the Vatican will host its first hackathon, VHacks. 120 young adult programmers, graphic designers, project managers, and others from around the world will spend 36 hours “hacking” together over the course of three days.

The Vatican hackathon aims to help leaders develop technological approaches to the needs of social inclusion, interfaith dialogue, and migrants and refugees.

Jakub Florkiewicz, co-chairman of VHacks and a student at Harvard Business School, told CNA via email that the hackathon’s mission is “to inspire young people around the world to collaborate across divisions and to use technology to address social issues.”

“We think that technology could improve the scale and efficiency of those organizations which offer support and help to those in need.”

He pointed out that the Church is often at the forefront of helping people in remote places. Because churches “have the world’s most extensive distribution network,” he said, this “can be leveraged to do good.”

The event is being organized by a group of Harvard and MIT students, the Vatican Secretariat for Communication, and OPTIC, a global think-tank working on ethical issues related to disruptive technologies.

Co-organizers are the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Migrants and Refugee section of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. The event has also gained some big-name tech partners, including Google, Microsoft, and Italian telecommunications company TIM.

Inspiration for the event came, in part, from a remark from Pope Francis in a first-ever papal “Ted Talk” video published last year. He said: “How wonderful would it be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation would come along with more equality and social inclusion.”

Participants come from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, and Florkiewicz said he is excited “to see how we will be at the forefront of cross-faith collaboration, with representatives of all the world’s major religions, working together to solve problems we all care about.”

One of the event’s missions is to: “Encourage value-based institutions to embrace technology to further their missions.”

“We want to see religion as a binding force, uniting in goodness towards others, not dividing,” Florkiewicz stated.

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Pope Francis makes surprise visit to mothers, children at detention home

March 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Rome, Italy, Mar 2, 2018 / 10:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday, Pope Francis continued his surprise “Mercy Friday” initiative with a visit to a home that keeps children with their mothers, who might otherwise be separated because of imprisonment.

Called “Leda’s House,” the home allows women who might have otherwise been imprisoned or put under house arrest for minor crimes to be rehabilitated while continuing to care for their children with supervision.

Located in the EUR neighborhood of Rome, the houses opened just one year ago and is the first of its kind in Italy. It currently houses five young mothers, between 25 and 30 years old, and their children. Most come from Rome, though one is from elsewhere in Italy and another is from Egypt.

According to a Vatican press release March 2, the women, children, and staff of the home all greeted Pope Francis with amazement. He spent some time speaking with the women and children before giving the kids giant chocolate Easter eggs.

According to the Vatican, the gift was “welcomed with great joy by the children, who invited him to have a snack with them.”

Today, #PopeFrancis continued his surprise “Mercy Friday� initiative with a visit to a home that keeps children with their mothers, who might otherwise be separated because of imprisonment.
Read the full story here: https://t.co/1u9xV5Ydqg
All Photos ©, Credit: Vatican Media/CNA pic.twitter.com/IoZPO5Yz4K

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) March 2, 2018

The women shared their appreciation of the opportunity to raise their children, despite the challenges. The Pope also left some gifts for the women, including a signed parchment to remember his visit.

During his visit, Francis was welcomed by Lillo Di Mauro, the head of the overseeing governmental department, along with the head of “Leda’s House,” who both highlighted the intense difficulties of children whose parents are imprisoned.

To avoid embarrassment, the children may make up stories about their incarcerated parents, they said, or they may become “aggressive and unmanageable,” although they are not bad children.

“The stay in the structure,” according to the Vatican’s press release, “allows mothers to accompany and take their children back to school, and to carry out activities useful for learning a profession, in view of future reintegration into the world of work and society.”

The women are able to continue living in a home environment and raising their children, while accompanied by staff and educators.

Pope Francis’ visit to “Leda’s House” is a continuation of his “Mercy Friday” custom, which he began during the Jubilee of Mercy, in 2016.

Originally planned once per month for the duration of the jubilee year, the Pope has continued these visits as a means of practicing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. He has met with refugees, children, women freed from sex trafficking, and the terminally ill, among others.

 

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