News/International

VATICAN CITY - Almost 30 years after the still-unexplained disappearance of a teenage girl who lived with her family at the Vatican, the Holy See continues to be willing to cooperate with efforts to solve the mystery, the Vatican spokesman said.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi issued a three-page statement April 14 recalling how often Pope John Paul II appealed for the release of Emanuela Orlandi after her presumed kidnapping in 1983 and how top Vatican officials formally answered investigators' questions then and in subsequent investigations carried out in the late 1980s and mid-1990s.

Brazil's Supreme Court OKs abortion for fetuses with malformed brains

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SAO PAULO - Supreme Court justices in Brazil voted to legalize the abortion of fetuses without brains or those with malformed brains, despite an effort that saw thousands of Brazilians praying outside of the court, urging the justices to protect the life of unborn children.

By late April 12, the majority of justices had announced their votes.

The Brazilian bishops' conference asked Catholics to hold prayer vigils outside of the court to encourage justices to consider the life of the unborn child prior to their vote.

U.S. Bishops see preventive strike on Iran as lowering the bar on waging war

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WASHINGTON - While Iran's secret nuclear program has raised serious questions about that country's intentions, a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would not be justified under Catholic teaching in the eyes of the U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders.

Further, any attack on Iran by Israel or the U.S. would greatly destabilize an already volatile Middle East, setting the stage for retaliatory military strikes that would place innocent civilians at risk and serve little more than to lead to an expanded arms race in the region, several Catholic observers told Catholic News Service.

The concern lies in what is seen as a preventive attack meant to stop Iran from furthering its nuclear program, which Iranian officials claim is for peaceful purposes.

Such a preventive attack -- as opposed to a pre-emptive strike meant to head off an imminent attack under just-war principles -- also poses moral questions because Iran's research is legal under international agreements and to date falls within the limits set by the Non-Proliferation Treaty regarding the development of nuclear weapons, the Catholic observers said.

"The problem with preventive war is that it lowers the barrier to war too low," explained Stephen Colecchi, director of the bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace.

"Using military action for a vague and gathering threat is very different than using military force in the face of an immediate threat," he said.

In February, reports surfaced that Israel was nearing a military attack on Iran in an effort to knock out some of Iran's key research and military facilities. While the rhetoric has quieted in recent weeks, reports continue to surface that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers an attack necessary.

President Barack Obama reportedly has worked to deter any such strike in the hope that economic sanctions and world pressure might force Iran to scale back its nuclear program, become more transparent about its intentions and allow wider access to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.

Acknowledging the tensions in a March 2 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on behalf of the bishops, Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, cautioned against any military action.

"Discussing or promoting military options at this time is unwise and may be counterproductive," wrote Bishop Pates, who chairs the bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace. "Actual or threatened military strikes are likely to strengthen the regime in power in Iran and would further marginalize those in Iran who want to abide by international norms."

What observers such as Gerard Powers of the University of Notre Dame, theologian Franciscan Father Kenneth Himes and longtime peace advocate Marie Dennis propose is a measured approach that relies on diplomacy on the road to a solution.

They point to the 2003 preventive attack on Iraq by the U.S. and its allies based on what today is widely considered erroneous information that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had harbored an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. No weapons were ever found in Iraq and the end result is that after more than eight years of occupation the country remains highly unstable with various religious and political factions maneuvering for power and control.

"If you go down that road it blurs that fundamental distinction between legitimate defense and aggression," said Powers, director of policy of studies at Notre Dame's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. "It would make a turbulent and unstable Middle East even more so.

"It would be inconsistent with moral certainty that is required before you use military force because it is often speculative about what might happen in the future. In the end it is an endorsement of a notion that might makes right," Powers said.

Father Himes, associate professor of theological ethics at Boston College, agreed with the U.S. bishops' that any attack on Iran under current circumstances constitutes a lowering of the threshold for war.

"Given the state of the devastation of war, we should be raising the bar for going to war," he told CNS.

He also sees Iran possibly acting through its proxies -- Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon -- in mounting attacks on civilian targets in southern and northern Israel, respectively.

Father Himes said he would welcome direct negotiations between American and Iranian delegations. Doing so would give Iran a level of respect it seeks in the international community, he said.

Despite the secrecy surrounding Iran's nuclear program, Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi International, said she is concerned that any attack will hasten the expansion of an arms race in the region. Some countries likely seek nuclear weapons contrary to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

She called for the U.S. lead the effort to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone.

"Pax Christi feels very strongly that the danger of Israel will be exacerbated by preventive war on Iran," she said. "The best way to provide for security for Israel, which it has a right to expect like Iran, is by eliminating the possession of nuclear weapons so that we ratchet down this kind of threat and that we work for greater regional and global understanding."

The church also can play a role to reducing the threat in the region.

"We can -- the U.S. church and Catholic churches in other nuclear weapons possessing states -- take the lead and be really serious about the consequences of continuing reliance on nuclear weapons," Dennis said. "We've never moved as a church to a place where we as a pastoral imperative challenged the engagement of Catholic people in nuclear weapons production and the strategies of using nuclear weapons.

"We could help move with other Christian and other religious traditions to be clearer about what does it mean in terms of moral decision-making for individuals, for companies and for our government if having nuclear weapons is considered a grave sin," she said.

UNAIDS chief meets Pope to discuss efforts to prevent HIV in children

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VATICAN CITY - Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, met Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials April 11, seeking greater collaboration to prevent HIV infection among children by 2015.

Preventing mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus and keeping children free from HIV is an achievable goal, Sidibe told the pope, according to a press release from UNAIDS.

U.S. Catholics urged to resist unjust laws, join in 'fortnight for freedom'

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WASHINGTON - American Catholics must resist unjust laws "as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith," a committee of the U.S. bishops said in a new statement on religious liberty.

Titled "Our First, Most Cherished Liberty," the 12-page statement by the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty also calls for "a fortnight for freedom" from June 21, the vigil of the feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, to July 4, U.S. Independence Day.

Cardinal Aponte, church's only Puerto Rican cardinal, dead at age 89

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNS) -- Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez, the second Puerto Rican to be ordained a bishop and the only Puerto Rican cardinal, died April 10 at Hospital Espanol Auxilio Mutuo in San Juan after a long illness. He was 89.

The head of the San Juan Archdiocese for nearly 30 years, he retired in 1999. Cardinal Aponte participated in the two 1978 conclaves that elected Pope John Paul I and Blessed John Paul II, but he was already over 80 and ineligible to vote by the time Pope Benedict XVI was chosen.

Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuno declared five days of official mourning for the cardinal, who died on the 62nd anniversary of his priestly ordination.

The Vatican's Justice council targets business leaders

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TORONTO - Though we all participate in the global economy by buying things and services, it’s pretty hard to take personal responsibility for globalization — but somebody has to, says the Vatican.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has issued a kind of digest of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical and aimed it squarely at business leaders. “The Vocation of the Business Leader” is a 30-page booklet aimed at business professionals mentoring young employees and professors in business schools. It extensively quotes and summarize Benedict’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate.

Nigerian bishop credits security forces for diminishing bombing's toll

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LAGOS, Nigeria - A Nigerian archbishop credited security forces for preventing a catastrophe at a Christian church on Easter when a suicide bomber was turned away and ended up detonating a car bomb on a busy street in the northern city of Kaduna.

Archbishop Mathew Ndagoso of Kaduna said that while the blast claimed dozens of lives, the death toll would have been much higher had the bomber been able to enter the grounds of the Evangelical Church of West Africa, where Easter services were being held.

Cardinal Daoud, former Syriac Catholic patriarch, dies at 81

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VATICAN CITY - Mourning the death of Syrian-born Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, who died April 7 in a Rome hospital, Pope Benedict XVI also prayed for the people of the Middle East "living through difficult times."

The 81-year-old cardinal was the retired prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and the former patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. His funeral was scheduled for April 10 in St. Peter's Basilica.

Irish priests' association disturbed that Vatican investigates founder

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DUBLIN - The Irish Association of Catholic Priests said it is "disturbed" that the group's founder, Redemptorist Father Tony Flannery, is under investigation by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In an April 9 statement, the priests' association -- which represents about 20 percent of Ireland's 4,000 priests -- affirmed "in the strongest possible terms our confidence in and solidarity with Father Flannery, and we wish to make clear our profound view that this intervention is unfair, unwarranted and unwise."

The statement said the group "is disturbed" that Father Flannery is being "silenced."

Maronite patriarch: Pope to visit Lebanon Sept. 14-16

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BEIRUT (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will visit Lebanon Sept. 14-16, Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Rai announced during Easter Mass at the patriarchal seat in Bkerke, Lebanon.

Patriarch Rai said April 8 that the Pope will meet with the country's religious and civil officials, including President Michel Sleiman, a Maronite Catholic. During an open-air Mass in Beirut Sept. 16, the Pope will present the apostolic exhortation on the October 2010 special Synod of Bishops, which met under the theme: "Communion and Witness."

In a statement, Sleiman said the pope's visit would affirm the depth of the "historical relations that tie Lebanon with the (Vatican) and will form an occasion to focus on Lebanon's position, message and role as a witness of freedom and coexistence."

It marks the pope's second visit to the Middle East; in May 2009 he visited Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The announcement comes amid increased concern over the plight of Christians across the Middle East, emigrating in increasing numbers.

Of Lebanon's population of nearly 4 million, approximately 33 percent are Christian, considered a high estimate. Half a century ago, Christians represented about half the population.

In Iraq, a Christian exodus since the American-led invasion in 2003 has reduced the Iraqi Christian population by two-thirds.

In an interview with Vatican Radio broadcast April 9, Archbisop Paul Sayah, vicar general of the Maronite Patriarchate, said the pope's visit would "inject a new dynamism," not only in the Lebanese society and Christians, but in the whole region.

Noting that the Christian presence in Lebanon has a "significant impact" on the country, Archbishop Sayah said the visit would "incite the Lebanese once again to play the role they are expected to play in this part of the world."

The archbishop said the apostolic exhortation would offer "a special message not only to Lebanon but also, and especially, to the countries of the region" where the outcome of the "so-called 'Arab Spring'" is still "not yet clear."

The pope's message, he said, will be especially important for the "tragic situation" in Syria, "which I am sure the Holy Father will address in one way or another."

The Arab world "badly needs a word of encouragement, a word of hope," he said, emphasizing that Christians in the region need directives on how to approach the "new reality" of the difficulties they face amid a revolution in their homeland.