ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 15, 2021 / 16:22 pm America/Denver (CNA). A relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis will be displayed for veneration April 18 at a school in Córdoba, Argentina, marking the start of a […]
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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 8, 2021 / 11:01 am America/Denver (CNA). Luis Avagliano was married to his wife, Flora, for 38 years, but after her death almost seven years ago, he felt God’s call to […]
San Luis, Argentina, Mar 24, 2021 / 07:19 pm (CNA).- A provincial judge in Argentina on Thursday declared the law legalizing elective abortion in the country unconstitutional. The ruling applies to the province, and must be ratified by higher courts.
Judge María Eugenia Bona issued the sentence March 18 in response to a suit filed by former senator Liliana Negre.
Negre had filed for an injunction against San Luis Province to end “the state of uncertainty” caused by the contradiction between articles contained in the abortion law and the Civil and Commercial Code.
Elective abortion was legalized in Argentina Dec. 30, 2020. Previously, Argentine law allowed abortion in cases when the mother’s life or health was in danger, or in cases of rape.
The former senator requested the prohibition of “the medical or clinical surgical practice of abortion” with the exception of those grounds that allow abortion in cases of rape or danger to the life or integral health of the mother.
The judge declared Article 19 of the Civil and Commercial Code, which recognizes the “existence of the human person from conception”, fully to be in force.
On this basis, she also declared unconstitutional several articles of Argentina’s abortion law, which permit elective abortion up to the fourteenth week of gestation, speak of the right to decide on abortion, of abortion care “in the services of the health system”; and about “post-abortion care in the services of the health system, without prejudice to the fact that the decision to abort would have been contrary to the cases legally authorized in accordance with this law.”
The judgement is in accordance with what is described in the Vienna Convention, the Human Rights Convention or the Pact of San José of Costa Rica; the National Constitution, and the Constitution of the Province of San Luis.
Bona noted that the law for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents “gives precedence to the right of the child, in the face of a conflict.”
“It is worth wondering, because in the questioned law (of abortion), only the situation of women is defended, their rights … forgetting, for example, that this child has a father who may love him, that there are grandparents, who have an obligation of maintenance and may also love that grandchild. But they are the great absentees”.
Furthermore, according to the American Convention on Human Rights, “everyone has the right to have their life respected” and this right is protected by law and in general from the moment of conception: “no one can be arbitrarily deprived of life”.
Likewise, article 49 of the Provincial Constitution of San Luis says, “the state protects the human person from conception to birth and from this to full development.”
Bona also recalled the statements of the College of Lawyers and Attorneys of the Province of San Luis and the National Academy of Law, which questioned the abortion law even before its approval.
However, Negre explained to ACI Prensa that abortions will continue to be procured in the province as long as the sentence is not ratified. For this, she must go through several judicial instances until reaching the Supreme Court of Argentina.
The abortion law was an electoral promise by president Alberto Fernández, whose bill was debated in less than a month in both houses of Congress.
To reverse the law, some pro-life organizations and lawyers have filed writs of amparo to declare it unconstitutional, in provinces such as Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Salta.
In addition, numerous statements of conscientious objection from doctors, health personnel, and clinics have been added.
ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 6, 2021 / 07:19 am (CNA).- As some international media recently reported that Pope Francis said he did not want to visit his native Argentina again, the author of the interview with the Holy Father that was the source of that assumption clarified the context and meaning of the pope’s words.
Veteran Argentine journalist and neurologist Nelson Castro interviewed Pope Francis for his book “The Health of the Popes”.
Argentine daily La Nación published a piece by Castro Feb. 27 that included a section of his interview with the pope. The last sentence is: “I won’t return to Argentina,” which led some to assume that meant “ever.”
At the end of the interview for his book about the health of popes, Castro asked Francis “how do you imagine your death?” to which he replied “I will be pope, whether in office or emeritus. And in Rome. I won’t return to Argentina.”
In a recent interview with fellow journalist Tito Garabal on Radio Grote, Castro clarified that Pope Francis said that he would not return to Argentina “as far as coming to live (in Argentina) if he resigned, that’s how it was.”
“He didn’t say ‘I’m not going to visit Argentina again.’ I asked him how he imagines his death in Rome and so on, he said, ‘I’m not going back to Argentina to die.’”
“This is indisputable as such. And it has two aspects: as the interview is verbatim then one wants to be as faithful as possible, so much so, and I anticipate this, that when the second edition of the book and translation come out, I’m going to introduce this clarification, because it’s called for,” Castro explained.
Rio Gallegos, Argentina, Feb 9, 2021 / 08:01 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Río Gallegos reported Feb. 8 that it did not authorize an attempted marriage between a man and a male transsexual on Feb. 6.
The attempted marriage took place in the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, administered by the Salesian congregation in Ushuaia, more than 350 miles south of Rio Gallegos. It was witnessed by Father Fabián Colman.
According to the Argentine news agency Télam, Victoria Castro, a 46-year-old transsexual male, and Pablo López Silva, 54, asked Father Colman to hold a ceremony in the parish to proclaim their wedding vows according to the Catholic Church.
“We gave him the idea of doing this ceremony and he accepted. He told us that he only evaluates people’s capacity to love. Of course, he consulted with the diocese, but personally he was always predisposed in our favor,” Castro said.
Castro and López Silva obtained a civil union in 2011 as a homosexual couple, but Castro decided to transition and currently defines himself as a woman.
Shortly after the news story was picked up by many Argentine media, Bishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva of Río Gallegos, said that “the celebration was not authorized by this diocese.”
“While we accompany all people without exception in their legitimate desire to receive God’s blessing, we clarify that in this case there is no sacrament of marriage as believed and supported by the Church.”
The bishop’s statement also says that “the priest in question has already been properly warned.”
“As pastor of this diocesan Church, I want to convey to all the people of God who reside in Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego my closeness, asking that we all pray always to maintain Christian charity towards our neighbor, accompanying their pain and suffering, their joys and hopes, and at the same time preserving the teaching of Jesus, the Lord,” he concluded.
As Castro told Télam, the ceremony included biblical readings, a homily, the profession of marriage vows, and Communion for the couple and several guests.
“Our ceremony has not been recorded in ecclesiastical documents because the norms of canon law prevent it,” he said.
Castro also said that “being transsexual does not imply neither losing faith nor ceasing to be a child of God. The ceremony was a very significant moment for the LGBTQ collective because the Church is a place that had been denying us, like so many other things.”
ACI Prensa contacted the Diocese of Río Gallegos to ask if Father Colman had received any canonical sanction, but the bishop’s secretary said that “the only response from Bishop García on this issue is the one that appeared in the official statement that is on the web site.”
ACI Prensa also contacted the regional authority of the Salesians regarding the canonical status of the priest, but they did not respond after more than 24 hours.
San Rafael, Argentina, Jan 12, 2021 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- A group of Catholic women in the Diocese of San Rafael have launched a campaign to adopt the seminarians affected by the closure of the local seminary.
The campaign was launched by the association… […]
Corrientes, Argentina, Jan 6, 2021 / 04:27 pm (CNA).- Fr. James Flores Álvarez, rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in the Archdiocese of Corrientes, died Tuesday of COVID-19.
The Peruvian priest had arrived in Corrientes in early 2018, several months after the seminary opened in the archdiocese in northern Argentina.
Fr. Flores was diagnosed with COVID in late December and was responding well to treatment in the local field hospital, but died suddenly Jan. 5.
“It is with deep sadness that we report the Easter of Father James Adam Flores Álvarez. He left today for the Father’s house, after several days of hospitalization in the Field Hospital”, Archbishop Andres Stanovnik of Corrientes said during the funeral Mass Jan. 6.
“We thank God for having sent you among us, even for a short time. Now we say goodbye to you and we hope that you meet in Heaven with your father and mother and so many brothers who accompanied you in your priestly life.”
“May the blessed Mother of the Redeemer take you by the hand so that you confidently cross to the new life” the archbishop concluded.
San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, Jan 4, 2021 / 03:46 pm (CNA).- Several hours before the beginning of 2021, a 9-year-old Argentine boy was saved from a stray bullet by a small metal crucifix on his chest, an event that local media have called “a New Year’s Miracle.”
According to a report from the police office of San Miguel de Tucumán, capital of the northwestern province of Tucumán, “the event took place around 10:00 pm on December 31 2020: a 9-year-old boy named Tiziano, from the neighborhood of Las Talitas, checked in with his father into the ER of the Baby Jesus Hospital in the southern part of the capital city with a superficial wound in the thorax, produced by a firearm.”
“After being checked thoroughly by several doctors on staff for 48 minutes, the boy was released,” the report says.
Tiziano’s family contacted José Romero Silva, a journalist from Telefé, Jan. 1 to explain how the boy’s life was saved: the bullet hit in the middle of the small metal crucifix that the boy received as a gift from his father. Tiziano’s aunt sent Silva a picture of how the bullet damaged the crucifix, which prevented the bullet from causing any real damage, except for a minor superficial wound.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”es” dir=”ltr”>[MILAGRO DE AÑO NUEVO] Anoche minutos antes de la 00 una bala perdida le pegó en el pecho a un Niño en Las Talitas. Pero el impacto fue en un crucifijo que el menor llevaba puesto, lo que salvó su vida. El Cristo quedó intacto y el Niño con una herida por el roce<a href=”https://twitter.com/telefetucuman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@telefetucuman</a> <a href=”https://t.co/N0vfFPtE8U”>pic.twitter.com/N0vfFPtE8U</a></p>— José Romero Silva (@Josecitors) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Josecitors/status/1345172600113262593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Silva shared the picture in his Twitter account, writing: “New Year’s Miracle: yesterday, minutes before 00 hours a stray bullet hit the chest of a boy from Las Talitas. But it hit in a crucifix the minor was wearing.”
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec 31, 2020 / 12:56 pm (CNA).- In a post published on Wednesday, December 30, just hours after abortion was legalized by the Argentinian Senate, one of the international branches of Planned Parenthood, the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR), boasted about having financed a large operation in the South American country to push to legalize abortion.
The celebratory post on the IPPFWHR website contradicts the claims of Argentinian President Alberto Fernández, who presented the abortion law and who repeatedly rebuffed pro-life concerns that the law was in fact being pushed by international organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Ford Foundation rather than the will of the Argentinian people.
According to a November 2020 survey carried by independent pollster Giacobbe & Asociados, 60% of Argentinians opposed the law, while only 26.7% were in favor.
“Argentina’s Senate just voted to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks! This is a historic moment for our region, our incredible partners in Argentina, and the countless activists and organizers who formed ‘the green wave’,” the IPPFWHR posted.
The post also revealed that the IPPFWHR “has nurtured an ecosystem of feminist organizations and activists for more than 15 years that contributed to make today possible.”
“IPPFWHR directly supports seven partners in Argentina, who in turn sub-grant funds to 20 other grassroots organizations from around the country. They have been coalescing around shared activities, such as advocating with policymakers and ensuring communication campaigns in favor of so called abortion rights featured prominently in the public discourse. They’re also actively planning how to best support the implementation of the new law.”
© Catholic World Report
