News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 23 May.
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• Holy Land prepares to receive Pope Francis
• Sudanese Christian woman waiting on death row
• International Religious join fight to stop trafficking at FIFA World Cup
• Pilgrims gather for Mt Schoenstatt Annual May Pilgrimage
• JPII Institute to run Theology of the Body marriage and family intensives over winter
TRANSCRIPT
LUKE: The Holy Land is preparing to receive Pope Francis this weekend. The trip will commemorate 50 years since the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, where the excommunications of 1054 which caused the Great Schism were rescinded. The trip seeks continue the reconciliation between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, taking the theme “Ut Unum Sint” – That they may be one.
During his trip, Pope Francis will travel to Amman in Jordan, Bethlehem in the West Bank and Jerusalem in Israel, where he will meet current Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew. The Holy Father said at his Wednesday Audience that the main purpose of his trip is “”is to meet [his]brother, Bartholomew”. “Peter and Andrew will meet once again, and this is very beautiful,” the pope said.
While the visit will officially be focused on ecumenism and diplomatic relations between the Holy See and countries in the Holy Land, commentators have speculated that Pope Francis may also have an influence in inter-religious healing and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Vatican journalist John L. Allen Jr. noted in the Boston Globe this week that “[b]y themselves, papal trips rarely change the world. If Francis accomplishes even a fraction of his ambitious agenda, however, this one could go down as among the most memorable chapters of his papacy.” The pope however noted in his Wednesday Audience that his trip will be “strictly religious”.
Pope Francis begin his journey to the Holy Land on Saturday, May 24.
For more information on this story, visit Catholic News Service.
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LUKE: A pregnant Sudanese woman has been sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
The 26 year old, Meriam Ibrahim, was given the sentence last Thursday in a Sudanese court after being found guilty of apostasy.
Her husband, Daniel Wani, arrived in Sudan on Monday after leaving the U.S., finding his 8 and a-half month pregnant wife being kept shackled in chains as she awaits hanging. The couple’s 18 month old son is also with her in prison.
Wani had been trying to get a U.S. visa for his wife, but has been unsuccessful, said Tina Ramirez, executive director of Hardwired, a U.S.-based advocacy group against religious persecution.
Wani, who is disabled in a wheelchair and depends on Ms Ibrahim for all details of his life, is appealing his wife’s execution.
The sentence won’t be carried out until Ibrahim gives birth, but Sudanese officials will not allow Mr Wani to take custody of his toddler son because a Christian man, by law, cannot raise a Muslim child.
Under Sudan’s criminal code, Muslim women are only allowed to marry Muslim men, and converting to another faith is punishable by death.
Several government opposition groups have said they will protest on Ibrahim’s behalf, with the UN also offering to help.
For more information on this story, visit The Telegraph.
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LUKE: International consecrated religious have joined a campaign against human trafficking to be run during the FIFA World Cup in Brazil next month. The Talitha Kum International Network of Consecrated Life against Trafficking in Persons launched the campaign in Vatican City on Tuesday. The campaign is titled “Play for Life, against trafficking”.
The initiative is aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking at the high profile event which is expected to attract around 1.9 million people. At the launch, Sister Carmen Sammut, president of the International Union of Superior Generals, said “this crime is present everywhere, for the profits from it are enormous. Prevention of this type of human trafficking entails reducing the demands for sexual services. In order for this to happen, public opinion needs to be alerted”.
US Ambassador to the Holy See Kenneth Hackett also took part in the launch, and he spoke to Vatican Radio on Tuesday:
KENNETH HACKETT: Those major events which gather thousands of people, very often young men with too much beer to drink and too much time on their hands are kind of a breeding ground for problems, and we want to raise that awareness and support the nuns as they raise awareness on this particular issue.” (1:40)
For more information on this story, visit News.va.
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LUKE Pilgrims have gathered with Bishop Anthony Fisher of the Parramatta Diocese at the Mt Schoenstatt Shrine in Mulgoa, west of Sydney for the Annual Marian Pilgrimage.
This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the Schoenstatt Movement, founded in Germany by Fr Joseph Kentenich in 1914.
In his homily, Bishop Anthony Fisher noted the remarkable expansion of the Schoenstatt movement in its first 100 years. The Bishop said “Who could have guessed that the movement would survive the imprisonment of the Founder, Joseph Kentenich, in Dachau concentration camp, his long ecclesiastical exile in America, and various other tensions. Yet it is by a life of prayer, prayer, prayer, of sound Christian formation and a Marian trust in providence, that such trials are turned to triumphs and saints are made!”
For a copy of Bishop Fisher’s homily, visit the Diocese of Parramatta website.
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Luke: The John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne is providing a unique opportunity for Catholics to prepare for October’s synod on the family.
The Institute has released its three winter intensive unit offerings, focusing on the Theology of the Body, the Nuptial Mystery and love, freedom and identity in thought of St John Paul II.
The intensives each run over a two-week period in July, which JPII Institute Senior Lecturer Dr Adam Cooper says provides the perfect opportunity for full-time workers or those living interstate to participate.
Dr Cooper: Every year we run the Theology of the Body in winter in this mode, two-week intensive mode, everyday, three hours a day, for two weeks. But we’re also running two other subjects this winter, which are sort of related. One of them is on, if you like, the background to the Theology of the Body in the actual thought of John Paul II before he was a Pope… and that’s a very interesting subject and dovetails beautifully with the Theology of the Body, which is, if you like, the culmination of his lifelong pastoral and theological reflections on human love and human freedom.
The other subject which we’re running also this winter is called the Nuptial Mystery in Contemporary Theological Anthropology. That’s a real mouthful to speak of, but it’s related because this whole Theology of the Body stuff is related to what theologians call the Nuptial Mystery. What’s the Nuptial Mystery? Well ‘nuptial’ comes from the word related to ‘marriage’, and we’re talking about the marriage ultimately between Christ and the Church… it’s a mystery that really defines the whole meaning of creation and the whole meaning of God’s purposes for human beings.
We’d be glad to speak further and make this rich heritage which we rejoice in more widely accessible to people, whatever their walk in life.
More information on the winter intensive offerings and the full interview on Theology of the Body with Dr Cooper is available on the Cradio website.
That’s it for this week’s headlines, thanks for listening. For more interviews, talks and programs visit cradio.org.au
