The rampant secularism of today’s world has been condemned by Pope Francis.
The Pope’s words appeared in a message to mark World Mission Sunday whose theme this year marks the Church’s mandate from God to bring the message of Christ to the whole world.
The Pope wrote that mission is part of the identity of Christians, adding, “it makes us responsible for enabling all men and women to realize their vocation to be adoptive children of the Father, to recognize their personal dignity and to appreciate the intrinsic worth of every human life, from conception until natural death”.
By contrast, he said, “[t]oday’s rampant secularism, when it becomes an aggressive cultural rejection of God’s active fatherhood in our history, is an obstacle to authentic human fraternity, which finds expression in reciprocal respect for the life of each person.
He continued: “Without the God of Jesus Christ, every difference is reduced to a baneful threat, making impossible any real fraternal acceptance and fruitful unity within the human race.”
The couple at the centre of the #HollesStreetBaby case say they were “led to believe” that there would be an inquiry by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK, and now that that is not the case, they feel “abandoned and neglected”.
The couple aborted their baby after it was wrongly diagnosed as suffering from a serious foetal abnormality.
The couple also told RTÉ News: “We did not take the steps to terminate lightly and we were not scared of the prospect of caring or loving a very sick child. We were told this was a fatal foetal abnormality.”
The couple have again called on Minister for Health Simon Harris to intervene to establish an independent, statutory inquiry into their case.
The couple’s solicitor Caoimhe Haughey accused the hospital of “investigating itself” and of “thinking it is above the law”. Ms Haughey also criticised Mr Harris, saying he had responded to calls for him to intervene only through officials “in a half-hearted manner”.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health has said in correspondence with the couple that it has been in contact with Holles Street “seeking assurances of the ongoing safety of termination services”.
The number of unborn babies who died from late-term abortions in New York City in a single year was greater than the number of people killed by homicide, figures have revealed.
The data was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and published by the New York Police Department. In 2015 the number of abortions in New York City at or after 21 weeks was 1,485 while the number of homicides was 352. However abortions at 21 or more weeks only account for 2.3 per cent of the 63,610 abortions carried out in the city in 2015.
The number of abortions in the state could increase even further after New York passed legislation liberalising abortion law even further. The new law declares that all women who become pregnant have the “fundamental right” to have an abortion. After 24 weeks, abortion is now permitted if the mother’s “health” is endangered, effectively legalising abortion up to birth for any reason.
Lila Rose, founder of pro-life group Live Action, said that “children up until the ninth month of pregnancy can be given lethal injections and poisoned to death. This is no different than infanticide”.
The British Foreign Secretary has written 40 letters to persecuted Christians, according to the religious freedom charity Open Doors.
One such letter was sent to a Nigerian woman who was abducted as a teenager by Boko Haram militants. Jeremy Hunt’s letter to her stated: “I cannot begin to imagine the horrors of what you have suffered. I stand in awe of the great faith that has given you the strength to rebuild your life and dignity.
“I want you to know that you are not alone that British diplomats continue to raise your situation that we continue to fight your corner and that we stand with those who are being denied the basic rights to practice their faiths.”
Erin James of Open Doors said she was “absolutely thrilled to see [Mr Hunt] engaging with Christians like this” and said the woman, Esther, reacted similarly when the charity delivered the letter to her.
“Esther was completely shocked when this letter came through,” she explained.
“She couldn’t believe that he even knew who she was. So it’s so wonderful to see that girl realise how supported she is, how loved she is by Christians in the UK and around the world.”
Mostly Muslim parents who had been demonstrating outside a primary school in Birmingham, UK, against the teaching of same-sex relationships have been banned from the area by court order.
Birmingham City Council was granted a temporary High Court injunction which says people, “shall not… organise, engage in, or encourage any other person to engage in any protest against the teaching of equalities at Anderton Park Primary School”. It also says that people breaking the injunction could be sent to prison.
Education Secretary Damien Hinds welcomed the injunction and said parents should share their views, and schools should listen, but added “However, what is taught and how is ultimately a decision for schools. Consultation does not mean parents have a veto on curriculum content.”
Parents protesting against same-sex relationships classes at the school have said they are being treated worse than fascists and the injunction was “disproportionate and unjust”.
The parents are calling for three things: For the current RSE programme and teaching around LGBTQ relationships at the school to be suspended; a proper consultation involving third parties where the parents, not the school, decide who represents the parents; and, for any future programmes to be both age-appropriate and religiously sensitive.
While the protests have been led by Muslim parents, they have been joined by Christians also.
Former Cabinet minister and Conservative party leadership candidate, Esther McVey, has backed the right of parents to withdraw their children from Relationships Education at primary school. Speaking to Sky News, she said that with young children, “parents need to have the final say”. Local Labour MP Jess Phillips, however, said the parents seem to want to “unravel equalities legislation in their image,” and “They have got to understand that equalities legislation protects them, and you can’t pick and choose.”
Most atheists and agnostics believe in the supernatural and the existence of forces of good and evil.
That’s the headline finding of a new study on unbelief from a research team in the UK.
Prof. Stephen Bullivant, Professor of Theology and the Sociology of Religion at St Mary’s University, Twickenham led the study that conducted interviews of unbelievers in six countries around the world: the U.K., the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Denmark, and China.
Most commonly accepted beliefs among atheists, and agnostics, the report states, are the sentiment that there are ‘underlying forces’ of good and evil; that ‘there exists a universal spirit or life force’; and ‘most significant life events are meant to be and happen for a reason.’
Unbelief in God, they write, doesn’t necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena, and only minorities of atheists or agnostics in each of the countries appear to be thoroughgoing naturalists.
Another common supposition – that of the purposeless unbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe – also does not stand up to scrutiny, they write. The idea that the universe is ‘ultimately meaningless’ remains a minority view among unbelievers in all six countries.
Moreover, they write, with only a few exceptions, atheists and agnostics endorse the realities of objective moral values, human dignity and attendant rights, and the ‘deep value’ of nature, at similar rates to the general populations in their countries.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide has condemned the continuing human rights abuses in China in a statement on the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre.
While vigils and events are being held in Hong Kong, London, Washington DC and other cities around the world to mark the violent suppression of peaceful protests in June 1989, CSW said they are dismayed by the current human rights situation.
“Under President Xi Jinping there has been a pattern of increasing human rights abuses: a stranglehold over civil society; a heightened sensitivity to perceived challenges to Party rule; and the introduction of legislation that curtails civil and political rights in the name of national security”. They added: “There has also been a rapid and alarming decrease in freedom of religion or belief, marked by the closure of thousands of temples, churches and mosques, the detention and disappearance of religious leaders, and the stripping away of religious symbols and signs. An attack, as one pastor put it, on the soul”.
A 17-year-old girl who felt she could no longer go on living has been allowed to die at home with the help of an ‘end-of-life clinic’. She had been a victim of rape as a young girl.
Noa Pothoven died in a hospital bed in her living room after doctors allowed her to starve and dehydrate to death.
In Holland, children as young as 12 can be granted euthanasia if they desire, but only after a doctor concludes that the patient’s suffering is unbearable with no clear end in sight.
In a social media post one day before her death last Sunday, Noa made her decision public: ‘I will get straight to the point: within a maximum of 10 days I will die. After years of battling and fighting, I am drained. I have quit eating and drinking for a while now, and after many discussions and evaluations, it was decided to let me go because my suffering is unbearable.’
According to the Dutch newspaper De Gelderlander, Noa’s parents had no idea she was unwell until her mother discovered a plastic envelope in her room filled with farewell letters to her parents, friends and acquaintances.
‘I was in shock,’ Lisette told De Gelderlander. ‘We didn’t get it. Noa is sweet, beautiful, smart, social and always cheerful. How is it possible that she wants to die? We have never received a real answer. We just heard that her life was no longer meaningful.’
Lisette told De Gelderlander last year that Noa and was ‘at odds’ with her parents. ‘We, her parents, want her to choose the path of life. Noa really doesn’t want to die at all. She only longs for peace,’ Lisette said. But when she turned 17, Noa no longer needed her parents consent in order to apply for euthanasia.
Almost four in ten births (37.8 per cent) in 2018 were registered as outside of marriage, according to the latest official figures.
A yearly summary of births and deaths published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows the rate is at its highest ever.
The figures also showed a significant ‘marriage gap’ depending on what part of the country a baby was born. Well over half (54.5 per cent) of all births in Limerick were to unmarried mothers, compared to less than a quarter (23.8 per cent) in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area of south Dublin.
Overall, there was a declining birth rate. There were 61,016 births registered in 2018, a decrease of 1,037 on 2017. The 2018 total is 19.4% lower than in 2008 when 75,724 births were registered.
The total period fertility rate in 2018 was 1.8 which is below replacement level of 2.1.
The London-based Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has refused to conduct an inquiry into the case of a child aborted at the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) at Holles Street after a wrongful diagnosis of a serious foetal abnormality.
The Hospital had asked the Royal College to review the case, but in declining the invitation, it said it did not have the expertise needed. It also expressed doubt that it could complete the work as quickly as was required. It has suggested individual clinicians would be in a position to carry out a review more swiftly, and has offered to put the hospital in contact with them.
Caoimhe Haughey, the solicitor for the couple in the case, said RCOG’s decision meant promises of an independent review were now “in limbo” and it was unclear what would happen.
She has has written to Health Minister Simon Harris and Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan calling for a full statutory inquiry. In the letter, she indicates a proposed external review might not go far enough and the parents of the child believe a sworn Section 9 inquiry may be warranted “to eliminate risk”.
