During a visit to the offices of the World Food Programme in Rome, Pope Francis said: “We need to ‘de-naturalise’ extreme poverty, to stop seeing it as a statistic rather than a reality. Why? Because poverty has a face! It has the face of a child; it has the face of a family; it has the face of people, young and old. It has the face of widespread unemployment and lack of opportunity. It has the face of forced migrations, and of empty or destroyed homes.
“Once poverty no longer has a face, we can yield to the temptation of discussing hunger, food and violence as concepts, without reference to the real people knocking on our doors today. Without faces and stories, human lives become statistics and we run the risk of bureaucratising the sufferings of others. Bureaucracies shuffle papers; compassion deals with people.”
Cardinal faces ‘hate crime’ charge
After describing gender theory as “the most insidious and destructive ideology of humanity in all history” Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Valencia, Spain, will face criminal charges.
The Spanish Network of Help to Refugees filed a criminal complaint against the cardinal, saying his statement was a hate crime. The group said that by his words the cardinal is trying to subvert the constitutional order.
Nine million pilgrims to Rome to date
Over nine million pilgrims have already travelled to Rome during the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
This was reported by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, who is coordinating plans for the Jubilee.
‘Fight intolerance, and for migrants’ dignity’
Archbishop Janusz Urbanczyk, the Vatican’s representative to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said European policies toward migrants should focus not on their legal status but on their human dignity.
The archbishop noted the rise of racism and intolerance in Europe directed against Jews, Muslims and Christians. “Anti-Christian sentiment appears to be the last acceptable prejudice and seems to receive less attention than other forms of intolerance because of Christianity’s position as the principal religion of Europe,” he said.
Call for renewed fight against child labour
During last Sunday’s Angelus address, Pope Francis said: “Today is World Day Against Child Labour. Altogether, let’s renew our efforts to remove the causes of this modern slavery, depriving millions of children of certain fundamental rights and exposing them to serious dangers. In the world today there are so many child slaves!”
Tragic consequences of euthenasia
In an article in the Ottawa Sun, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast wrote: “There is no right to euthanasia or assisted suicide. We have a right to life and medical care, not a right to die or to force someone to kill us.
“Do we want to legally force physicians and healthcare practitioners to comply with this inhumane, made-up right, not to support life but end it? Do we want doctors to be coerced into violating their conscience or lose their licence? That is where our country is heading. Tragic consequences await us all.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)