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Ukrainian archbishop calls on Russia not to bomb historic cathedral
ROME (CNS) – The Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Kyiv-Halych and the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See said they had received information that Russia planned airstrikes on the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv.
Not only is the cathedral holy to all Slavic peoples, but it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cathedral has religious significance for the Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholics. Its construction was begun in the 11th century, several hundred years before Ukrainian Catholics declared their union with Rome and broke union with the Orthodox.
A Rome spokesman for Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, major archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic church, said church officials had received intelligence about the airstrikes. He said Archbishop Shevchuk called on all Christians to pray for the site and “calls upon the aggressor to refrain from this most horrific act of vandalism.”
“May St. Sophia – the wisdom of God – illumine those who have considered committing this crime,” Archbishop Shevchuk said.
The Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See tweeted out the information from “intelligence data” and said in all caps, “We appeal to the Russians – do not commit the crime.”
The March 1 warning came as Russia began airstrikes against Kyiv and warned residents near Ukrainian security services to evacuate their homes.
Nicholas Rudnytzky, professor of history and dean of academic services at Manor College in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, spoke to catholicphilly.com about the importance of the cathedral.
“St. Sophia is a testament to Ukrainian national consciousness and spirit,” he said.
He noted that given its prominence in the history of Orthodox Christianity as well, “it is the symbol of all Christianity. No Orthodox faithful of any kind would ever contemplate such an act, which is unthinkable.”
Rudnytzky said if this intelligence is true, “Putin is betraying his hand here and trying to do what the Soviets couldn’t. This (would not just be) an attack on Western civilization, but a specified attack on Christianity.”
(Contributing to this story was Gina Christian in Philadelphia.)
Russian Catholics grieving, angered after Ukraine invasion
By Jonathan Luxmoore
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) – Catholics in Russia have been left “grieving, angered and bewildered” by their country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the church’s spokesman, who also warned that citizens would face harsh economic consequences from the conflict.
Father Kirill Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian bishops’ conference, said many Catholics are angry “and don’t know where to direct this anger – some are turning it on God, on the church, on the Russian government and on the world.”
“While some Catholics are reacting as if none of this affects them, some discussion groups formed as part of the church’s synodal process have now come together for mutual support in the current state of grief, anger and bewilderment,” said Father Gorbunov, who is also vicar general of the Moscow-based Mother of God Archdiocese.
“It’s obvious this situation will have very, very severe consequences for the well-being of citizens here. Our most important task as priests is to remind people of the church’s teaching on war and peace. But we must also be very attentive to the most vulnerable – the elderly, sick and poor – and act as counselors, helping people react in a meaningful, prayerful way which leads to integrity rather than madness.”
Detachments from Russia’s invasion force, amassed in border regions since last fall, attacked Ukraine in the early hours of Feb. 24, triggering harsh resistance from Ukraine’s 200,000-strong armed forces and a huge refugee exodus, as well as sharp fall in Russian currency, the ruble. On March 1, Russian troops continued to pound Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and a 40-mile column of Russian tanks and vehicles was reported to be within 20 miles of Kyiv.
In a Feb. 24 pastoral message, Russia’s five-member bishops’ conference said it was “deeply shocked” that war had erupted “despite huge efforts at reconciliation,” and the bishops backed the pope’s appeal for March 2, Ash Wednesday, to be marked by “intense prayer and fasting for the sake of saving human lives.”
They also asked priests to celebrate Masses “for the preservation of peace and justice” and called on fellow Christians “to resist lies and hatred, and be a source of reconciliation.”
“This confrontation brings death and destruction and threatens the security of the entire world,” the bishops said.
“The peoples of our countries are united not only by a common history, but also by a great common suffering that befell us in the past because of the madness of war. … Let our contemporaries know they will have to give a strict account for the military actions they have taken. The course of coming centuries largely depends on their current decisions.”
As the war progressed, Russian Catholic churches held peace prayer vigils. The Saratov-based St. Clement Diocese began a nine-day adoration of the Blessed Sacrament March 1.
Moscow Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, president of the bishops’ conference, circulated a “prayer for peace and fatherland,” to be read at Masses. It calls for Catholics to “be able to see a common future,” while also shunning “lies that destroy the world.”
Father Gorbunov told CNS Russia’s bishops had based their message on the church’s dogmatic constitution, “Lumen Gentium,” and were “expressing church teaching, not just their own opinion.”
“We’ll see if they wish to expand on this in coming days, but I personally think things are changed not by statements, but by the change of heart people experience during prayer, thinking and talking,” he said. “In normal everyday life, people don’t always understand what’s going on. But when they start to pray, they understand the terror, find compassion and see the necessity of doing something.”
“Like many ordinary people, I’m no expert in predictions – the decision-makers will get what they deserve, and I hope it won’t be the worst-case scenario for either Ukraine or our country,” he said.
Bishop in Ukraine fears Russia could brand priests, nuns as spies
Prayer for Ukraine
God of infinite mercy and goodness, with grateful hearts we pray to you today for peace. You offer us your peace continually (Jn 14:27) and constantly remind us that peacemakers are blessed, “for they shall be called children of God.” (Mt 5:9) May your voice resound in the hearts of all, as you call us to follow the path of reconciliation and peace, and to be merciful as you are merciful.
We pray to you for the people of the Ukraine who are experiencing conflicts and deaths. Bless the leaders with wisdom, vision and perseverance needed to build together a world of justice and solidarity, and to break down walls of hostility and division.
To you we entrust all families and pray that they may never yield to discouragement and despair, but become heralds of new hope to one another in this challenging time.
May you continue to inspire all of us to oneness of heart and mind, to work generously for the common good, to respect the dignity of every person and the fundamental rights which have their origin in the image and likeness of God impressed upon every human being.
Grant eternal rest to the dead and quick recovery to the wounded, we pray through Christ our Lord, Amen!
(Prayer adapted from: Pope JPII’s Prayer for Peace, shared by St. Stephen Pro-tomartyr Ukrainian Catholic Church, Calgary)
By Catholic News Service
WARSAW, Poland – Church leaders in embattled Ukraine have warned that foreign missionaries could be targeted by attacking forces, while many could be branded “NATO spies” if Russia occupies the country.
“Clergy from Western countries will certainly be at risk – the Soviet rulers viewed priests and nuns as Vatican spies, and now they’ll be spies of NATO and the European Union,” Auxiliary Bishop Jan Sobilo of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia told Catholic News Service March 3.
“Judging by what’s happened in other occupied areas, we can also expect restrictions on Masses and other activities. By defending Ukraine, we are also defending the Catholic Church,” he said.
A Polish priest in Kharkiv said he also feared repression against foreign clergy, especially those from Poland and other NATO countries.
“We were all given a free choice to leave or stay by our bishops – and while a few have had to go, almost everyone else has remained,” Father Wojciech Pasiewicz, director of the church’s Caritas Spes charity in the partly destroyed eastern city, told CNS March 3.
“Given the restrictions and controls placed on freedom and democracy in Crimea and other regions, we can clearly expect the same here and anticipate real dangers from the Russians,” he said. “But what matters now is that this war ends, and people are allowed to return to their homes and churches.”
“We are simply praying and doing all we can to stay in touch with our faithful, while many hide out in parish basements,” Father Pasiewicz told CNS. “The children are terrified, and there’s fear and panic everywhere, with some still hoping to be evacuated. We should all be praying for peace and mourning the dead, uniting in hope that this will all end today or tomorrow.”
Bishop Sobilo told CNS the civilian population had now mobilized to defend the country. He said many Russian soldiers appeared “disorientated and demoralized” by the fierce Ukrainian reaction, but feared being shot if they attempted to surrender and withdraw.
Hundreds of Polish priests and nuns have helped run Catholic parishes and charity projects since Ukraine’s 1991 independence and are currently stranded in its eastern and southern war zones.
Polish Father Piotr Rosochacki, who heads Caritas-Spes on the Black Sea, told the Polish Catholic news agency KAI the situation was growing “increasingly desperate,” adding that “all principles for waging war” had been violated in the bitter fighting.
Meanwhile, the Caritas director in Mariupol, Father Roscislav Spryniuk, told KAI attacking Russian troops had fired on residential areas, adding that shops and cashpoints were now empty.
Bishop Sobilo told CNS some Polish clergy had been forced to leave for health reasons or a lack of relevant documents, adding that he had ordered one priest to quit his parish, unwillingly, fearing harm from Russian troops.
However, he added that the “decisive majority” had remained in place, helping people who had fled other cities.
“In Russia itself, the Catholic Church isn’t well regarded and has continual problems,” he told CNS. “So we can be sure we’ll find ourselves in a very difficult, bad situation if we’re occupied.”
Russia’s forces, amassed in border regions since last fall, invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, triggering harsh resistance from the country’s 200,000-strong armed forces, as well as a sharp fall in Russia’s ruble currency amid Western economic sanctions and pledges of military assistance.
Russian troops continued to close on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, March 3 as tens of thousands fled the fighting and Western governments backed an investigation by the International Criminal Court into alleged war crimes by invading forces.
Shelling damaged the Assumption Orthodox Cathedral in Kharkiv, reportedly with windows and other decorations broken, The Associated Press reported March 3.
In his national address that day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to restore Kharkiv’s cathedral.
“Even if you destroy all our Ukrainian cathedrals and churches, you will not destroy our sincere faith in Ukraine and in God,” the president told Russians.
Briefs
NATION
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CNS) – The Catholic bishops of Florida praised the state Legislature for passing a measure to prohibit most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. H.B. 5 also includes provisions to improve infant health and analyze and reduce fetal and infant mortality. “While we continue to look forward to the day when the full protection of unborn life is recognized in law, we are encouraged that H.B. 5 further limits the grave harm that abortion inflicts upon women and children,” said Christie Arnold, associate for social concerns and respect life at the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. The conference said in a March 3 news release that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has expressed support for this legislation and is expected to sign it into law. “In an incremental, yet important, step, the bill provides at least eight additional weeks of protection for children in the womb. Current Florida law prohibits abortion when a child is viable, or able to survive outside the womb – currently closer to 24 weeks,” the release said. H.B. 5 “closely tracks” the Mississippi law at issue in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, which could reverse “the unjust ruling” in Roe v. Wade, the conference noted. “If the Supreme Court upholds Mississippi’s law, Florida’s legislation will likely be upheld.”
WASHINGTON (CNS) – In the fall of 1979, Manuel Williams drove to a neighboring Alabama parish to hear a talk by Sister Thea Bowman, a dynamic Catholic speaker and evangelist known for her joyful singing and storytelling. She also challenged the church to welcome the gifts of Black Catholics and celebrate their African heritage that had shaped their culture and faith. Remembering the first time he saw the tall Black woman religious wearing an African dress, he said, “She strode on the stage as well as any Broadway actress or denizen of the performing arts would do. On top of her head she had these meticulous braids you could almost describe as a crown. She was captivating.” Sister Thea, he remembered, had a style all her own. “She smiled. She taught. She told stories. She chastised. She affirmed. She cajoled, and she punctuated it all with a searing and a soaring (singing) voice.” Afterward, Sister Thea met him and encouraged him to become a priest. Father Williams, a priest of the Congregation of the Resurrection, Williams reflected on her life and legacy and her message for today in a Feb. 15 talk at The Catholic University of America titled, “The Wisdom of Sister Thea Bowman for a Church in Crisis.” Sister Thea, who died in 1990, was a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and is a candidate for sainthood.
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Although next year’s world Synod of Bishops on synodality may seem like it would be something far removed from U.S. Catholic college students, many are hoping that’s not the case. “Synodality is the chance to be creative in imagining the future of the church. Use this chance. … Catholic colleges and universities can make a contribution,” a theologian told a group of Catholic college leaders in February. Massimo Faggioli, professor of historical theology at Villanova University, outside of Philadelphia, urged Catholic leaders during the annual gathering of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington, to be invested in the synod not only because Catholic colleges are a big part of the church but also because there is currently a “crisis of trust in institutions” and Catholic colleges are not immune to it. Vincentian Father Guillermo Campuzano, vice president for mission and ministry at DePaul University in Chicago, agreed, saying the challenge in this whole process will be to “capture the singular voice of the church,” which will need significant input in order to be an accurate portrayal. He emphasized that above all, the synod should “fully embrace the meaning of diversity in the Catholic Church.”
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Coexistence between older and younger generations can bring about a better appreciation for life that is often lost in today’s fast-paced society, Pope Francis said. A pervasive “spirit of rejection” exists in the modern world that “tends to be hostile to the elderly and, not by chance, also to children” and “casts them aside,” the pope said March 2 during his weekly general audience. “The excess of speed puts us in a centrifuge that sweeps us away like confetti,” he said. “One completely loses sight of the bigger picture,” and instead is tossed about by an attitude dictated by market forces “for which slower pace means losses and speed is money.” The pope continued his new series of talks dedicated to the meaning and value of old age and reflected on the theme, “Longevity: symbol and opportunity.” The long life of the patriarchs recorded in the Bible, he said, “confers a strong, a very strong symbolic meaning to the relationship between longevity and genealogy.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As the Russian military continues to bombard Ukraine, the Vatican is mobilizing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to those suffering. After Pope Francis’ announcement that he was sending two cardinals to Ukraine, the Vatican said March 7 that Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, and Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, interim president of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, intend to reach Ukraine “in the coming days,” depending on the situation. “Cardinal Krajewski is on his way now, March 7, toward the Polish-Ukraine border where he will visit refugees and volunteers in shelters and homes,” the Vatican said. Cardinal Czerny was to arrive in Hungary March 8 “to visit some reception centers for the migrants coming from Ukraine,” the Vatican said. “The cardinals will bring aid to the needy and serve as the presence not only of the pope, but of all the Christian people who express solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” the statement said. According to the Vatican, Cardinal Czerny also intends to raise concerns regarding the treatment of African and Asian residents in Ukraine. Many have reported acts of discrimination against them as they attempt to flee the country. “There are also worrisome reports of increasing activities of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants at the borders and in the neighboring countries,” the statement said.
WORLD
ROME (CNS) – The attack on and seizure of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Russian forces could lead to an ecological disaster 10 times worse than the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, said the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. In a video message released March 4, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych said the attack should be a cause of concern for the world, especially for those “who care for the environment, those who care for the ecological awareness of humanity. This is not only becoming a humanitarian catastrophe before our very eyes. It is an irreversible attack on God’s creation that for decades, for centuries, will be impossible to correct,” he said. “Ukraine already experienced Chernobyl. Now it stands on the threshold of a new atomic threat that can be 10 times worse.” According to the Reuters news agency, a fire that broke out at a training center in the facility, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was extinguished after Russian troops captured the site. Although the fire took place in an area outside the main plant and there were no signs of elevated radiation levels, the attack prompted a response from the International Atomic Energy Agency. “I’m extremely concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and what happened there during the night,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the IAEA, in a March 4 statement.
MEXICO CITY (CNS) – Mexican church leaders condemned a horrific brawl between fans at a professional soccer match, images of which horrified the country and raised uncomfortable questions about rising violence further permeating Mexican life. The brawl erupted at a match March 5 in the central city of Querétaro between supporters from home squad Querétaro and fans from rival team Atlas. Querétaro Gov. Mauricio Kuri said the melee left 26 fans injured – with no deaths, contrary to early media reports – though supporters of Guadalajara-based Atlas flooded social media with pleas for help finding missing fans. The Mexican bishops conference said in a statement immediately after the incident that it “categorically reproaches any episode of violence, however minimal. We exhort sporting clubs, the authorities and civil society to make football and any sport an opportunity to create spaces of integration and not of confrontation (for) reconstructing the social fabric, so damaged and in need of dialogue, respect, comprehension and tolerance,” the bishops said. Gruesome images streamed from Corregidora Stadium showed fans being kicked unconscious, battered bodies strewn naked on the stadium concourses and frightened families rushing the field for safety. The fighting spilled onto the field and some combatants could be seen with weapons.
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon (CNS) – A bishop in Cameroon’s troubled South West region said he is saddened by the rising number of kidnappings in the country’s two violence-ravaged English-speaking areas. Bishop Michael Bibi of Buéa expressed shock over the Feb. 24 kidnapping of 11 teachers of a government-run school for blind and deaf students in the country’s North West region. “It is sad, very sad that teachers should be kidnapped simply because they are teaching,” Bishop Bibi told Catholic News Service. “The question I am asking myself is why do you kidnap and torture and even kill the very people you say you are fighting to free?” Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions have been embroiled in war for the past five years, with separatists fighting to create a new nation to be called Ambazonia. Since the conflict began, at least 4,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million forced to flee from their homes.
Mundo en Fotos
Briefs
NATION
CINCINNATI (CNS) – The Los Angeles Rams may have won Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals, but students in Catholic schools in both archdioceses are winners as well. Donors contributed more than $22,000 – and counting as of Feb. 17 – for tuition assistance scholarships as part of a friendly wager between Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati over the game’s outcome. The donations to each archdiocese’s Catholic Education Foundation came as the archbishops invited supporters to become involved in their good-gesture wager through the Bishops Big Game challenge. In the Feb. 13 game, the Rams were behind in the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter, before scoring the winning touchdown with 1:25 left, beating the Bengals 23-20. With the Rams’ victory, the Los Angeles foundation will receive 60% of the funds raised, while the Cincinnati foundation will received 40% of the money donated.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) – From partaking in the sacrament of reconciliation to fasting to choosing what to give up, Lent is full of traditions that Catholics around the world take part in as they prepare to celebrate Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. But there’s another sacred tradition that dates back to the early days of the Crusades; one that allows them to “walk” the Via Dolorosa with Christ: the Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross are a mini-pilgrimage, taking believers through the steps taken by Jesus on Good Friday, from his condemnation to his burial. The stations are a “way of prayerfully uniting oneself to the sacrifice of the Lord and his love for us,” said Father Eric Fowlkes, pastor of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. “It’s also an invitation for us to place ourselves within that journey.” The Stations of the Cross date back to the Middle Ages during the religious wars between Christians and Muslims, known as the Crusades. “The Crusades awakened an interest in Europe in the places associated with Christ in the Holy Land. For the first time, Europeans were traveling there regularly and wanted to see the holy places where the biblical events took place,” said Father Bede Price, pastor of Church of the Assumption in Nashville.
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis advanced the sainthood cause of Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, the prelate who organized and oversaw the first six international celebrations of World Youth Day. The pope also approved a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Capuchin Poor Clare Sister Maria Costanza Panas of the Italian monastery of Fabriano. She was born Jan. 5, 1896, and died May 28, 1963. In addition to recognizing the miracle that clears the way for her beatification, the pope approved decrees recognizing that four candidates for sainthood heroically lived the Christian virtues; the decrees were signed during an audience Feb. 18 with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The four candidates, who are now “venerable,” included Cardinal Pironio, who had served in numerous offices in the Roman Curia from 1975 until his retirement in 1996. St. Paul VI called him to Rome as pro-prefect of the Vatican congregation for religious. When St. John Paul II named him to head the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1984, the late pope instituted the annual celebration of World Youth Day, including huge international gatherings presided over by the pope every two years and organized by the laity council.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As part of ongoing measures to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis has approved restructuring the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the oldest of the congregations. Once comprised of a doctrinal office, a discipline office and a marriage office, the new structure will see the doctrinal and discipline offices become their own special sections led by their own secretaries; the marriage office will become part of the doctrinal office. The two secretaries will serve under the congregation’s prefect. Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria, who has been prefect of the congregation since 2017, will celebrate his 78th birthday April 19. The heads of Vatican offices are required to offer their resignations to the pope when they turn 75. In “Fidem servare” (Preserving the Faith), published “motu proprio,” (on his own initiative) Feb. 14, Pope Francis said the main task of the congregation has been to safeguard or “keep the faith.” The changes went into effect the same day. Over time, the congregation has seen modifications to its areas of responsibilities and how it is configured, and now, Pope Francis said, further change is needed “to give it an approach more suited to the fulfillment of its functions.”
WORLD
SÃO PAULO (CNS) – The Diocese of Petrópolis and the city’s parishes have opened their doors to assist victims of the torrential rainstorm that flooded the historic city of Petrópolis. Bishop Gregório Paixão Neto asked that priests and parishioners take in people whose houses were affected by the Feb. 15 mudslides and needed shelter. “This moment is one of solidarity, and we of the Catholic Church are deeply united and in solidarity with all families,” Bishop Paixão said in a video message released on social media. “I ask you to welcome your relatives, your friends and those who are in despair, looking for a place to stay. I, myself, already have a family staying in my house,” he added. The mid-February storm is considered one of the worst in city in the past 70 years, with rainfall surpassing 10 inches in six hours, a volume greater than expected for the entire month of February. As of early Feb. 17, 104 deaths had been recorded, and dozens were still missing under the mud and rubble. The Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, through Caritas, launched the SOS Petrópolis campaign, asking for donations for families affected by the rains.
IQUITOS, Peru (CNS) – Oil spills on opposite sides of Peru – one near Lima, the coastal capital, and the other in a remote Indigenous village in the Amazon – brought together Catholics in the two regions for simultaneous Masses Feb. 13. They prayed for those suffering from the pollution caused by both spills as they marked the second anniversary of “Querida Amazonia,” (Beloved Amazonia), the papal exhortation issued by Pope Francis after the 2019 Synod of Bishops for the Amazon. The liturgies, accompanied by video messages exchanged by Bishop Miguel Angel Cadenas of Iquitos and Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima and played at each of the Masses, formed the first such joint initiative between bishops in Lima and the Amazon. In January, similar disasters struck the two regions. A ship offloading oil Jan. 15 at a coastal refinery spilled about 6,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean, fouling at least 30 miles of shoreline. On Jan. 20, vandals cut an oil pipeline in a small Amazonian village, contaminating the river that people depend on for water for drinking, cooking and bathing. In his homily, Archbishop Castillo said, “We have a commitment – our city of Lima and our entire coast – to our Amazon region.”
Mundo en Fotos
Hermanas de la Misericordia celebran la liberación de medioambientalistas
Por David Agren
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (CNS) – Las Hermanas de la Misericordia celebraron la liberación de seis personas en contra de la minería en Honduras, quienes pasaron casi dos años y medio en detención, en un caso que la Corte Suprema del país dijo que nunca hubiera avanzado.
“Celebramos la liberación de los (defensores del Rio Guapinol) que fueron encarcelados injustamente y juzgados por proteger a sus comunidades de la minería destructiva”, tuitearon las Hermanas de la Misericordia el 11 de febrero, dos días después de la decisión de la Corte Suprema.
“La gente de todo el mundo los apoyó porque proteger el agua no es un crimen. Merecen reparaciones”.
Seis hombres, parte de un grupo conocido como defensores del Rio Guapinol, fueron condenados el 9 de febrero por los cargos de causar daños criminales y la detención ilegal del jefe de seguridad de la empresa minera, según el diario The Guardian. Dos de los acusados fueron declarados no culpables.
Apenas un día después, la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Honduras revocó las condenas y anuló el juicio de los ocho defensores, declarando que el juez anterior no tenía jurisdicción sobre el caso.
Los cargos contra los defensores, junto con la prolongada detención y las breves condenas, generaron condena internacional y expusieron los estrechos vínculos entre las élites políticas, económicas y judiciales del país centroamericano.
Honduras ha tenido mala fama en los últimos años por los asesinatos y la persecución de los defensores del medioambiente, quienes a menudo se oponen a la construcción de represas o minas cerca de sus comunidades sin su consulta.
“(Los defensores) simbolizan la solidaridad de los pueblos en defensa de la vida y la libertad. Ellos fortalecen nuestra esperanza y dan sentido a nuestras luchas”, tuiteó el padre jesuita Ismael Moreno Coto, fundador de Radio Progreso en Honduras.
Los medioambientalistas se habían opuesto a la construcción de una mina de óxido de hierro en un parque nacional, lo que contaminó el río y la fuente de agua de su comunidad. La mina es propiedad de un individuo poderoso con conexiones políticas, Lenir Pérez, según los investigadores, quienes cuestionaron las supuestas irregularidades en el proceso de aprobación y la falta de consultas comunitarias.
“(Son) las élites económicas trabajando con las élites políticas”, dijo en una entrevista Jean Stokan, coordinadora de justicia de las Hermanas de la Misericordia de las Américas.
Las Hermanas de la Misericordia, quienes han tenido presencia en Honduras durante 60 años, abogaron por la comunidad de Guapinol antes de la detención y juicio de los medioambientalistas.
Las hermanas llevaron el caso a la Embajada de EE.UU. en Honduras, donde Stokan recordó que le dijeron: “Estamos hablando entre bastidores”. Las hermanas querían que la embajada hablara públicamente.
Finalmente la embajado lo hizo en diciembre, luego de que Honduras eligiera una nueva presidenta, Xiomara Castro, quien prometió justicia para los medioambientalistas y dijo que abordaría temas como la pobreza y la violencia.
Stokan dijo que estaba “extremadamente esperanzada” con la presidencia de Castro, pero le dijo a oficiales que se enfocaran en algo más que frenar la corrupción.
“Esta presidenta necesitará el apoyo de Estados Unidos para todo el proyecto que está tratando de presentar”, dijo Stokan.
Briefs
NATION
NEW YORK (CNS) – In emotional remarks Feb. 2 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the sister of slain Officer Wilbert Mora paid tribute to her brother and his late partner, Officer Jason Rivera, but also decried the “violence and crime” taking the lives of police as they try to protect the citizenry. “It hurts me to know that two exemplary young men, like Officer Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, were taken before their time,” Karina Mora told the mourners who packed the cathedral for the funeral Mass for her brother. The service took place less than a week after Rivera’s funeral Mass, also at the cathedral. These were two young men “who wanted to make a difference and a change in their city with their service and their sacrifice,” said Karina Mora, who spoke in Spanish, with her words interpreted in English for the congregation. “Now I only ask myself, how many Wilberts, how many Jasons, how many more officers will have to lose their lives for this system to change?” she said. “How many other lives who protect us will be taken away by violence and crime? How many mothers? How many more mothers, how many children will have to lose their family and live this trauma and this kind of tragedy?”
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Trying to advance the economic status of American Indians is like playing a game of Monopoly that they can never win, said panelists during a Jan. 30 plenary session of the Jan. 29-Feb. 1 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. “Imagine you arrive to the game late … and you see what properties are remaining. On this monopolized board, all the properties are taken. That’s where we come in. We were invited to play the game decades later,” said Lakota Vogel, executive director of the Four Bands Community Fund in South Dakota. “We come to the Monopoly board without money to buy the property, and we can’t even build houses there. We just hope we build something that makes everybody else pay taxes,” said Tara Mason, historical trauma coordinator for the Niibi Center, a nonprofit organization serving the White Earth Reservation members in Minnesota. “We’re at a disadvantage from multiple perspectives,” added Mason, herself a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Band. “It’s not even the same Monopoly game that we have an opportunity to play.” Vogel said one solution would be to “rewrite the rules of the game. Or maybe we’re creating a whole new board for us to operate in.” Pete Upton, board chair of the Native CDFI Network – CDFI is an acronym for community development financial institution – is trying to rewrite those rules. And if he can’t do it, he suggested that Congress can.
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Akash Bashir, a 20-year-old volunteer security guard who was killed by a suicide bomber in 2015, is the first Pakistani to be given the title, “servant of God,” an initial step on the path to sainthood. Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore, Pakistan, informed Catholics of his archdiocese that Pope Francis had granted the title to Bashir Jan. 31, the feast of St. John Bosco. “We praise and thank God for this brave young man, who could have escaped or tried to save himself, but he remained steadfast in his faith and did not let the suicide bomber enter the church. He gave his life to save more than a thousand people present in the church for Sunday Mass,” the archbishop said, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Bashir had studied at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore and was one of the parishioners of the Church of St. John who volunteered to provide security outside the church. “Akash was on duty at the church entrance gate on March 15, 2015, when he spotted a man who wanted to enter the church with an explosive belt on his body,” Fides said. “Akash blocked him at the entrance gate, foiling the terrorist’s plan to massacre those inside the church.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The “true gold medal” at the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games goes to everything that helps the global community be more welcoming and accepting of all people, Pope Francis said. At the end of his general audience Feb. 2, the pope focused on the bonds that unite all people in one human family as he prayed for the people of Myanmar, spoke about the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics and anticipated the International Day of Human Fraternity. For more than a year, “we have watched with pain the violence staining Myanmar with blood,” the pope said. A coup Feb. 1, 2021, ended the country’s experiment with democracy and set off protests and repression, death and detention. Joining an appeal launched by the country’s bishops, the pope called on the international community “to work for reconciliation between the parties involved. We cannot look away from the suffering of so many of our brothers and sisters. Let us ask God, in prayer, for consolation for that tormented population.” Pope Francis also noted that Feb. 4 would be the second celebration of International Day of Human Fraternity, a U.N.-declared observation to promote interreligious dialogue and friendship on the anniversary of the document on human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019, by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt.
WORLD
MEXICO CITY (CNS) – Retired Bishop Onésimo Cepeda Silva of Ecatepec – the colorful and controversial Mexican bishop who rubbed shoulders with the rich, served one of the country’s roughest dioceses and made a brief, but disastrous foray into electoral politics – died Jan. 31. He was 84. The Diocese of Ecatepec confirmed Bishop Cepeda’s death, as did the Mexican bishops’ conference, which barely 10 months earlier disavowed his registration as a legislative candidate for a minor political party. Bishop Cepeda had contracted COVID-19 three weeks earlier, according to church statements. Mexican media reported he had been intubated. Bishop Cepeda cut a controversial course through Mexico’s public life. He served the ramshackle suburbs of Mexico City, but appeared in society publications and played golf at expensive country clubs. Politicians and business elites regularly attended his birthday celebration. He reputedly came under investigation for his acquiring a wealthy church donor’s art collection, which contained works by Latin masters Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. Bishop Cepeda also served as a godfather to bullfighters, according to Mexican media.
ADELAIDE, Australia (CNS) – Mercy Sister Janet Mead, who earned gold records for her 1974 hit version of the Our Father, died Jan. 26 in her native Adelaide. She was 84 and had been battling cancer. In 1974, “The Lord’s Prayer,” set to an uptempo rock beat, scaled up the charts, peaking at No. 4 in the United States and No. 3 in Australia, earning her gold records for the single. Sister Mead was an unlikely pop star. The only other nun in U.S. history to crack the top 10 in the United States was Soeur Sourire, better known as The Singing Nun, for her lively folk ode to St. Dominic, 1963’s French-language “Dominique.” Sister Mead also was the first Australian to have a gold record in the United States. The single was distributed to 31 countries, according to ABC, Australia’s government-subsidized broadcaster, selling, by various accounts, 1.5 million, 2 million or 3 million copies worldwide. Sister Mead was even nominated for a Grammy, but lost out to Elvis Presley. She declined an offer to tour the United States and donated all her royalties to charity. But for those who weren’t monitoring Top 40 radio in 1974, they might have heard her arrangement played during Masses at Catholic churches and schools.