News Roundup

Pro-abortion militants launch violent attacks on evangelicals and Catholics in Argentina

A pastor had to escorted out of a conference and back to his church under police protection, a Roman Catholic Cathedral sustained heavy damages during a night-time attack, a Christian radio station was vandalised, and prolife activists have endured “slander and abuses”. These are some of the incidents involving the Green Kerchief militants who most recently led the drive to introduce an extreme abortion law to Argentina and who have also been to the forefront in promoting the legal imposition of a radical redefinition of sex and gender. A bid to liberalise Argentina’s abortion law was defeated in the Senate last week.

The NGO “Pro-Life Unity Neuquén and Alto Valle” has condemned the incidents. Pro-abortion and LGBT activists “should not shut down the freedom of speech they themselves preach,” they said in a statement. The group denounced “the sequence of events which attempt against fundamental freedoms of the pro-life sectors”. A “religious worship service had to be cancelled after the attack of Green Kerchiefs, with stones and Molotov cocktails”. But also “attacks in the media against an educational institution just because it teaches values which are part of its vision” are not acceptable. The NGO refers to the campaign against the faith-based school AMEN, run by a Baptist church. These kind of public pressures have also been frequent in the social media in the last weeks, during the social debate around the Argentinian abortion law. The pro-life group in the province calls for “tolerance, freedom and justice, because we live in a democracy.”

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State of Colorado launches legal action over refusal to bake ‘transgender cake’

A Colorado State Commission has launched a new legal action against a Christian baker who refuses to make cakes that promote beliefs contrary to his own. The baker had previously refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding and now refused an order to bake a case celebrating a ‘gender transition’. The same baker, Mr Jack Philips, had been previously targeted by State officials for his original action. The case was fought all the way to the Supreme Court which narrowly found in the baker’s favour.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Phillips and his cake shop filed a federal lawsuit late Tuesday against those officials for doubling down on their ‘anti-religious hostility’.

“The state of Colorado is ignoring the message of the U.S. Supreme Court by continuing to single out Jack for punishment and to exhibit hostility toward his religious beliefs,” said ADF Senior Vice President of U.S. Legal Division Kristen Waggoner. “Even though Jack serves all customers and simply declines to create custom cakes that express messages or celebrate events in violation of his deeply held beliefs, the government is intent on destroying him—something the Supreme Court has already told it not to do. Neither Jack nor any other creative professional should be targeted by the government for living consistently with their religious beliefs.”

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Judge rules women in Scotland may take abortion drugs at home

Scottish women will still be allowed to take abortion drugs at home after a legal challenge against the move was thrown out.

Last year, Scotland became the first part of the UK to let women take the abortion drug misoprostol at home. The decision was made by Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer – not by legislation — who wrote to all health boards to say the abortion drug could be taken by women outside of a clinical setting.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) challenged the decision at the Court of Session. They argued that such a move contravenes the 1967 Abortion Act. It said abortions could only legally be carried out in a medical facility, and argued that allowing women to take the tablet at home could put their health at risk.

However, Lady Wise rejected this, saying that patients who self-administer medication at home, “may still be described as being treated by their medical practitioner, who remains in charge of that treatment.”

Drawing an example to diabetics injecting themselves with insulin, she added: “Regardless of place, there is no need for a doctor to hand the medication to the woman personally.”

SPUC said it was “extremely disappointed” with the decision and that it would appeal against the ruling.

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Assisted suicide bill defeated in Australia

A private member’s bill that would have cleared the way for assisted suicide to be legalised across Australia has been defeated. The bill was voted down by 36 to 34 after two days of impassioned debate in the Senate. The final push to defeat it came from Liberal senator Anne Ruston and Nationals senator Steve Martin who were persuaded to vote against the bill, after initially leaning in favour of it.

“I cannot in good conscience offer my support to this bill which will provide the territories the ability to legislate in the area of voluntary euthanasia, certainly without ensuring that appropriate safeguards were in place,” Senator Martin told the Senate on Wednesday.

Labor senator Pat Dodson, opposing the bill, argued that “paving the way for euthanasia and assisted suicide” would leave Indigenous Australians “even more vulnerable, when our focus should be on working collectively to create laws that help prolong life and restore their right to enjoy a healthy life”.

Senator Leyonhjelm who championed the bill said he was disappointed at its defeat, vowing to continue fighting for “the rights of all Australians to decide how and when to end their lives”.

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Church of Ireland bishop welcomes visit of Pope Francis

The visit of Pope Francis to Ireland is being eagerly anticipated by the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe.

Bishop Kenneth Kearon has written to both the clergy of his own diocese and to the Catholic bishops to say the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis is important “for all Christians in Ireland,” and he gave thanks for the “great hope the visit brings to Christians of all denominations, in our complex and unsettled world.”

Pope Francis was “exercising remarkable Christian leadership on a global scale” and had an effect “few would have thought possible in a remarkably short time,” he wrote.

In support of the World Meeting of Families, he said, it was an “interest we all share. Families are at the heart of church and community in Ireland.”

In preparation for the visit Bishop Kearon has written to his diocesan clergy and readers “to take the opportunity to strengthen the warm ecumenical bonds that already exist between churches in this region”. Bishop Kearon also “felt it appropriate that each church send a message, possibly a letter or a visit, to their own local Roman Catholic parishes, assuring them of our prayers and good wishes at this time”.

He has also written to his fellow Catholic bishops “rejoicing in Pope Francis’s own ecumenical commitment on a wider front, and noted his warm personal friendship with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Revd Justin Welby”, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

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Row over insurance company sponsorship of World Meeting of Families

Allianz, the insurance and asset management company, had been criticised by LGBT campaigners for helping to sponsor the upcoming World Meeting of Families of the Catholic Church even though it also supports LGBT events in many parts of the world.
Justin McAleese, son of former president Mary McAleese and Dr Martin McAleese, contacted Allianz at its headquarters in Munich and inquired how it was compatible for them to be supportive of LGBT people internationally and be headline sponsors of the WMoF in Dublin which, ha claimed, had denied LGBT Catholics a stall at the RDS where WMoF events were being held.
In a statement last night, the company said Allianz in Ireland was the official general insurer to the WMoF and had made a donation to it but was not the headline sponsor of the event.
An Allianz spokeswoman said: “We strongly promote a diverse and open society and corporate culture and respect different cultures and religions,” she said. “With donations, we generally aim to support local communities around the globe and follow our corporate citizenship strategy. Nonetheless, we do not take responsibility for single decisions, actions or opinions of all members of the supported organisations and corporates.”
In relation to Dublin Pride last June, Allianz tweeted: “Happy #Pride to all our wonderful @Allianz_Care LGBTQ staff and everyone celebrating @DublinPride week.” Last month the company lit up Munich’s Allianz Arena – home of Bayern Munich – in rainbow colours to celebrate Pride and has marked Pride events in the UK, Australia and elsewhere internationally.
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Italy moves to re-assert ‘natural family’, restore ‘mother’ and ‘father’ to identity cards

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has ordered the wording on some official forms changed so that same-sex couples cannot both declare themselves as a child’s parents. Salvini, interior minister and leader of the League party, is now Italy’s most favoured politician and his socially conservative policies have proven popular among voters. In an interview with a Catholic online newspaper Salvini said he had ordered the identity card application forms for children to be changed to refer to the “mother and father” instead of “parent 1” and “parent 2”.
“We will defend the natural family founded on the union between a man and a woman. I will exert all the power possible,” Salvini told La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.
In Italy, surrogate pregnancies are illegal and same-sex couples cannot adopt children. However, some courts and city halls have granted parental status to the partner of a mother or father who had children by a previous relationship, even though the right is not enshrined in national law. Salvini said the government would never contemplate surrogate pregnancies “or similar horrors”.
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Harris wants doctors to be able to refer women for abortions in interim move

Government figures have denied that Minister for Health Simon Harris was considering introducing an interim law on abortion before the result of the 8thamendment referendum was deemed legal by the courts. However, he does want to allow doctors to directly refer women for abortions in the UK before the final passage of abortion legislation before the end of the year.

Reports emerged this weekend that Mr Harris wanted to decriminalise abortion and enable in law women to have abortions whose unborn children have received a diagnosis of a life limiting condition, and that he would do so before court challenges to the referendum result have concluded.

Government sources say it will seek to implement one piece of legislation, which will not be introduced until after the referendum result has been ratified.

However, Mr Harris is intending to commence certain aspects of the legislation earlier than others.

“The Minister is specifically looking at two areas: the ability for a doctor to give information and refer, and the decriminalisation of women. He hopes that both issues could be addressed and commenced this year. Abortion services would then commence in January,” the source said.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/no-abortion-legislation-until-court-challenges-concluded-1.3594020

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Twitter creates new Pope Francis emoji to honour his Irish visit

In a sign of goodwill, social media giant, Twitter, have created a special emblem to honour Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland that users can add to their posts. The emotion-conveying-image or emoji for short consists of the smiling face of the pope against an Irish flag backdrop. It can be generated under a number of hashtags including #PopeinIreland and will be launched on Tuesday.

Pope Francis, an active social media user with more than 17.7 million followers, is no stranger to his image being used for emoji purposes. Twitter has previously unveiled similar emoticons to mark his papal visits to the United States and Latin America.

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Syrian family refused reunification as marriage considered polygamous

Syrian man who came to Ireland in 2015 has been refused family reunification with his wife and sons because his marriage is viewed as polygamous under Irish law. The man divorced his first wife, but the divorce papers were not finalised before he married his second wife. He says that he is ‘completely against’ polygamy.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the Minister was unable to comment on Mr Jazmati’s case but added that the Supreme Court’s view is clear. A 2017 judgement found that only the first marriage of a Lebanese man with two wives was valid. This ruling “clearly established that recognition of an actually polygamous marriage ‘would be contrary to a fundamental constitutional principle and therefore contrary to public policy’.

“Therefore it not possible for the State to recognise any second or subsequent marriages entered into while the marriage to a first spouse is in being, and considered valid under Irish law.”

According The Irish Times, had Mr Jazmati sought asylum in the United Kingdom he may not have faced problems in reuniting with his family. While polygamy is illegal in the UK, as long as the marriage is recognised in the country where it took place and properly executed according to the laws of that country, the marriage is valid and the spouse is entitled to be reunited with one wife. The application is refused if the spouse applies for a second wife to enter the country. Similar rules also apply in Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway.

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