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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-2-2010
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Women's economic empowerment key to family and society, nuncio says
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- Women's economic empowerment is essential for the economic development of families and society, Archbishop Celestino Migliore said July 1. "Tragically, violence against women, especially in the home and workplace, and discrimination in the professional field, even on the pay and pension scale, are growing concerns," the Vatican's U.N. nuncio told leaders of the world body. "Through adequate legal frameworks and national policies, perpetrators of violence must be brought to justice and women must be afforded rehabilitation. Women and girls must be guaranteed their full enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights including equal access to education and health," he said. Archbishop Migliore delivered the statement to the U.N. Economic and Social Council during a session about implementing international goals for women's equality and empowerment. He said it was particularly important to discuss women's empowerment before the World Summit on the Millennium Development Goals -- targets set by the world's nations for reducing poverty and improving the standard of living of the world's poorest people. The summit will be at the United Nations Sept. 20-22. Archbishop Migliore noted that ever since world leaders committed their governments to the development goals, "some remarkable progress has been achieved in mainstreaming women's perspectives in development both in multilateral and national policies."
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Nebraska town's immigration law puts it on path with no clear end
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When residents of Fremont, Neb., voted June 21 to bar undocumented immigrants from renting housing or getting jobs in their city, they stepped onto a path that other U.S. towns have already blazed, with legal and political results that remain unclear years later. One thing that is clear, however, is that similar ordinances have been costly, both financially and to relationships within the communities. Fremont's voter initiative, approved by a vote of 3,900 to 2,900, will require people to get a permit from the city to rent property. The permit application requires proof of legal U.S. residency for anyone who says they are not a U.S. citizen. Those unable to prove their legal status would lose their occupancy permits and would be subject to a daily fine of $100 if they don't vacate the property, according to an analysis by Jim Cunningham, director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, published in the Catholic Voice, newspaper of the Omaha Archdiocese. The law also will require employers in the city to verify job applicants' immigration status. Businesses that fail to comply would be "tried at a public hearing before the City Council," the law says. Lawsuits challenging the ordinance are already being prepared and the city has opened a legal defense fund to cover expected costs estimated at anywhere from $270,000 to more than $5 million, reported the local newspaper, the Fremont Tribune.
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WORLD
Pope urges Iraq to form government soon, protect Christians
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged the Iraqi leadership to work for the swift formation of a stable government and to protect the Christian minority in the country still torn by violence. The pope made his appeal to the new Iraqi ambassador to the Vatican, Habbeb Mohammed Hadi Ali al-Sadr, as he presented his diplomatic credentials in a private audience July 2. Pope Benedict praised the "great courage and determination" shown by Iraqi people who voted March 7 despite violence and intimidation at the polls. A national government has still not been formed, leaving the country in a political and security vacuum. The pope urged that the new government be formed soon "so that the will of the people for a more stable and unified Iraq may be accomplished." He addressed the oft-repeated concern about the plight of Christian minorities in Iraq, many of whom have fled in the face of attacks and persecution. The pope said he hoped that conditions would improve so that they could "remain in their ancestral homeland, and that those who have felt constrained to emigrate will soon consider it safe to return." He acknowledged that both Muslims and Christians have suffered the consequences of the violence that has racked the country for years, but said he hoped that "this shared suffering can provide a deep bond" and promote mutual efforts for peace.
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Pope to head for the hills for summer, away from Roman heat
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will leave the heat of Rome July 7 for the papal villa in the hills just south of the Italian capital, a Vatican statement said. The weekly general audiences as well as private audiences will be suspended until August, the July 2 statement said. The pope will continue to meet the public at noon on Sundays at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo when he recites the Angelus prayer. In past years Pope Benedict took a summer holiday in Les Combes, in the northern Italian Aosta region. Last summer he fell in his residence and fractured his right wrist. The pope will resume the weekly general audiences Aug. 4, the statement said.
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Church advocates push countries to begin to overcome 'resource curse'
HUANCAYO, Peru (CNS) -- With its fields of potatoes and artichokes, the Mantaro Valley in the central Andes region of Junin is known as Peru's breadbasket. But the roads winding from the valley floor up the steep slopes lead to remote villages where farmers barely grow enough to feed their families. More than 58 percent of the people in the region live in poverty, half in extreme poverty, and nearly one-third of the children are chronically malnourished. Government officials say that will change when a new copper mine opens, pumping more than $100 million a year in tax revenues into the region and providing thousands of jobs. But in a country that has shipped mineral wealth abroad since the 16th century and still struggles to wrest itself from poverty, some observers wonder if that promise is hollow. There is reason for doubt. Studies show that countries whose economies depend heavily on exports of natural resources such as minerals, oil and natural gas tend to be poorer and less democratic than those with more diverse economies. Academics call it the "resource curse." Archbishop Pedro Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo, whose see includes the region where the $2.2 billion Chinese-owned Toromocha mine will operate, said that simply pouring money into the region is not enough. "There has to be a comprehensive plan for the region's development," he told Catholic News Service, "and there is none."
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Long, hot summer: Vatican faces external and internal challenges
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Early July is when things usually slow down at the Vatican, as top church officials wrap up loose ends and prepare to go on vacation. But the mood at the Vatican this year is anything but serene. Pope Benedict XVI and his key advisers are facing a series of external and internal conflicts that threaten to make this a long, hot summer of problem-solving and strategizing. One hesitates to use the word "unprecedented" when writing about the Vatican. But it's difficult to remember a time when so much bad news has landed at the Vatican's doorstep. The Belgian police raid on the archdiocesan headquarters and residences near Brussels June 24 left Vatican officials stunned, and illustrated just how much the sex abuse crisis has lowered the church's standing in the eyes of some civil authorities. The country's bishops were held for nine hours as police confiscated files, computers and cell phones. The ultimate affront came when the police drilled into the tombs of two dead cardinals and inserted cameras to look for supposed hidden documents -- which were not found. The police action brought sharp criticism from Pope Benedict, who was careful, however, to defend the right of civil authorities to investigate priestly sex abuse. The problem is that the church also claims a responsibility to investigate such abuse according to church law.
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Church official criticizes Mexico City's move toward 'express divorces'
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of Mexico City expressed disappointment with the recent liberalization of marriage laws in the Mexico City Assembly to allow for "express divorces," which can be approved in less than two hours. The new laws, approved June 30, permits couples to end their marriages quickly so long as their children are of legal age, the wife isn't pregnant and neither of the spouses is receiving government assistance. Father Jose de Jesus Aguilar Valdes, director of radio and TV for the Archdiocese of Mexico City, said the new laws promote an easy way out for couples instead of promoting reconciliation. "This kind of divorce responds only to one of the many necessities that a couple in crisis has," Father Aguilar told Catholic News Service July 1. The priest questioned why lawmakers facilitated easy divorces instead of dedicating resources to programs and institutions that would work to save marriages.
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PEOPLE
Bishop praises Byrd for service to West Virginia's past and future
WHEELING, W.Va. (CNS) -- Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston praised Sen. Robert C. Byrd as "a great statesman and public servant" after the June 28 death of the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate in American history. "While we will prayerfully reflect on his decades of scholarship, hard work and dedication to the people of West Virginia, we must also celebrate the future that Senator Byrd helped shape," the bishop said of the Democrat who represented the state in the Senate for 52 years and was instrumental in bringing billions of dollars in federal funds to West Virginia. Bishop Bransfield said Byrd "led the transformation of West Virginia's highways, and technology, health care, education and criminal justice systems, which will advance the quality of life in our beloved state for generations to come." The 92-year-old senator died in the early morning hours of June 28 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, where he had been hospitalized for what was initially thought to be heat exhaustion. A procession through Charleston was held for Byrd July 1. A public memorial service was to be held July 2 at the state Capitol, and his funeral was scheduled for July 6 at Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington, Va. Officials at Wheeling Jesuit University said the school is deeply honored and grateful that the senator's passion for the Mountain State and his hope for the future will live on as the Byrd legacy through the Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies, named for his wife, and the Sen. Robert C. Byrd National Technology Center.
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