Pope Francis made a plea at the United Nations Friday on behalf of all children born and unborn, with a particular emphasis against abortion and in favour of family life.
“Unfortunately, some countries and international institutions are also promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided in the humanitarian response to the pandemic,” Pope Francis said in his address to the UN Sept. 25.
“It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child,” the pope said.
Pope Francis also urged world leaders to be especially attentive to the rights of children, “particularly their right to life and to schooling”.
He reminded the UN that the first teachers of every child are his or her mother and father, adding that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the “natural and fundamental group unit of society”.
“All too often, the family is the victim of forms of ideological colonialism that weaken it and end up producing in many of its members, especially the most vulnerable — the young and the elderly — a feeling of being orphaned and lacking roots,” Pope Francis said.
“The breakdown of the family echoes the social fragmentation that hinders our efforts to confront common enemies,” he added.
A loss of more than €5m in donations during the Covid lockdown was suffered by Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese.
Regular income from collections had “fallen off a cliff” because of the shutdown of churches between March 15 and September 2020, an archdiocese spokeswoman told the Sunday Independent.
Donations have dipped again as level three health measures have stopped religious services in the capital.
The long lockdown period and the restricted sizes of congregations caused income to drop by more than 70pc, or €5.5m, compared with the same period last year.
The second collection for Share, which supports struggling parishes and the administration of the archdiocese, had fallen by €2.3m to €750,000, a drop of 75pc.
A voluntary redundancy scheme was offered to 77 central services staff and parish pastoral workers, with 25 expected to apply – but that number was exceeded.
The passage of an abortion clinic censorship zone bill through the House of Commons has been delayed.
The Bill would introduce exclusion zones around abortion clinics in England and Wales.
The zones would criminalise the offering of practical and emotional support to women entering abortion clinics, bringing a possible prison sentence of up to two years for those who offer support to women within 150 metres of abortion clinics.
The private members bill from an opposition Labour MP failed to pass through its second stage reading after an objection from one MP. It will return to the Commons on Nov 13th.
In a surprise announcement yesterday, the Dáil is set to take up the assisted suicide bill this coming Thursday. If passed, it would proceed to the committee stage to be hashed out in detail.
The bill is proposed by socialist TD, Gino Kenny, and other members of People Before Profit. It is also supported by the Labour party while Sinn Fein have promised to vote for its progress to the next stage of the legislative process.
Yesterday, Eamon Ryan, leader of the Green Party said the Government have not discussed it, but added he thought there is a real possibility of a conscience vote when it comes up for debate next week.
Meanwhile, a Canadian doctor has written to the Irish Times to say that assisted suicide legislation has resulted in far more deaths than was initially expected.
Dr Martin Owen wrote that the impact of that law has been nothing short of immense. “In the first full year of the new law, 1,015 lives were ended by euthanasia. This number has since risen to 4,467 in 2018 and 5,631 in 2019.”
The UK government has abandoned plans to let people officially change gender without medical checks.
In its response to a consultation on the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, the government concluded that “the balance struck in this legislation is correct”.
“There are proper checks and balances in the system and also support for people who want to change their legal sex,” women and equalities minister Liz Truss said in a written statement to parliament on Tuesday.
The announcement means people wishing to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate – and thereby have the law recognise them as having all the rights and responsibilities appropriate to a person of their acquired gender – will still have to have been officially diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
In her statement, Ms Truss did admit it was “clear that we need to improve the process and experience that transgender people have when applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate – making it kinder and more straightforward”.
Chinese officials have admitted that birth rates have plummeted among its ethnic Uighurs, fuelling claims that Beijing is subjecting its Muslim minority to a campaign of forced abortion and sterilisation.
Official statistics show that in Xinjiang, the northwestern province where most of the country’s 10 million Uighurs live, birth rates dropped by almost a third in 2018. The statistics follow accusations that Beijing is trying to reduce the Uighur population by threatening women with fines or spells in mass-detention camps if they flout harsh so-called “family-planning” measures.
At the parliamentary party meeting yesterday, numerous members asked for a free vote so they could support Socialist TD Gino Kenny’s euthanasia Bill which has no times limits and defines terminal illness very broadly.
But it is understood that both Heather Humphreys and Josepha Madigan spoke out against a free vote as, they claimed, the pressure TDs would come under would be intense.
A spokesperson for Ms Madigan later said she spoke at length on the issue and said it would be best to have a Citizens’ Assembly on the issue first followed by a free vote.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee put forward a number of options, including holding a Citizens’ Assembling on the issue.
Mr Varakdar said the second stage of the Bill could be deferred for a number of months to allow a special committee to hear from experts and those with personal experiences.
A number of members, including John McGahon and Barry Ward said they would be against putting the issue to a Citizen’s Assembly as this would be simply kicking the can down the road.
Women from religious minority communities in Pakistan continue to be abducted and underage girls continue to be victims of religious violence and persecution, according to a new report.
The latest example is the daughter of Gurdwara Panja Sahib’s head granthi in Hassan Abdal city. Protests from the Sikh community in the national capital broke out on Monday outside the Pakistan High Commission in wake of the abduction of the Sikh girl.
The daughter of the head granthi (an official reader of Sikh scripture) went missing more than two weeks ago and she is reportedly being converted to Islam against her wish.
In a recent report, US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) noted that in Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities, young women, often underage, continue to be kidnapped for forced conversion to Islam and that 1,000 women are forcibly converted to Islam each year.
The report further stated that local police are often accused of complicity in these cases by failing to investigate them properly. In the Sikh community itself, more than 55 such instances of abductions and forced conversions are said to have taken place in the past few months.
Legislation for euthanasia in New Zealand has been called deeply alarming.
International human rights firm, ADF International delivered a statement to the United Nations on the dangers for the elderly when euthanasia is legalized.
Giorgio Mazzoli said a fair and just society cares for its most vulnerable. “The potential impact that the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide via the End of Life Choice Act of 2019 would have on older persons in New Zealand is deeply alarming. While the eligibility requirements are supposedly strict, the experience of other countries, where the practice is permitted, shows that once the door is open to intentional killing, there is no logical stopping point”.
He added: “If human dignity becomes linked to a person’s state of health or self-determination, it loses its inherent and objective character. Legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide will further increase social pressure on the elderly, who may be led to believe that their lives are ‘completed’ and ‘no longer worth living’”.
47% of Americans agreed that the pandemic deepened their commitment to their spouse or partner while only 9% disagreed.
That’s according to the 6th annual American Family Survey at Brigham Young University.
The survey of 3,000 American adults also reveals only 13% of those surveyed say the pandemic made them question the strength of their relationship.
Boyd Matheson, Deseret News Opinion Editor said American families have revealed that despite the turmoil of this year, they are resilient. “The pandemic is not destroying American families. In fact, it’s making them stronger. More than half (56%) of those surveyed have said the pandemic has made spouses appreciate their partner more. Only 1 in 10 disagreed.”
