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The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - June 12, 2009
VATICAN DOSSIER
Pope Spiritually Joins Peace Marchers
WORLD FEATURES
Lawyer Says Men-Women Relations Need Healing
Religious Form Network Against Human Trafficking
Cardinal Denounces Shooting at Holocaust Museum
NEWS BRIEFS
Prelate Encourages Umbilical Cord Blood Donations
Caribbean Communication School Opens New Program
Economic Crisis Spurs Knights of Columbus Charity
New Orleans Native to Lead Archdiocese
INTERVIEW
Cardinal Dziwisz on John Paul II's 1st Poland Trip
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Pope Spiritually Joins Peace Marchers
ROME, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has assured his spiritual closeness to the participants in the 31st march for peace from Macerata to Loreto.The Pope expressed his good wishes in a message sent to the participants, who will make the march Saturday night. He also blessed the flame of peace last Wednesday during the general audience.
The papal message assures his "spiritual presence" in the procession, which is organized by the Communion and Liberation movement, and other ecclesial groups.
He added that his "fervent desire" is that those who "participate in this nighttime walk of prayer and reflection can experience the joy of Christ" and the "maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope."
The Pontiff invoked upon them the "abundance of graces from heaven" and assured them of a special apostolic blessing.
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Lawyer Says Men-Women Relations Need Healing
Analyzes US Out of Wedlock Birth RateWASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Catholics have a particular capacity and responsibility to help society recapture the waning value of bearing children within marriage, affirmed a consultor to the Vatican's laity council.
Helen Alvaré, a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity and a senior fellow of law for the Culture of Life Foundation, affirmed this in an essay on the foundation's Web site.
She commented on the "nearly 40% out of wedlock birth rate in the United States" recently reported by the Centers for Disease Control.
"The implications for our society loom large," Alvaré affirmed. "According to empirical data published over the last several decades in leading sociological journals, these children, on average, will suffer significant educational and emotional disadvantages compared to children reared by their married parents."
She continued: "They are likely to repeat their parents' behaviors. The boys are more likely to engage in criminal behavior and the girls to have non-marital children.
"There is also the fact that American society is becoming increasingly segregated by different marriage and family patterns."
The lawyer noted that for Catholics, "the possible 'normalizing' of out of wedlock childbearing is of particular concern, not only because of the diminished well-being of vulnerable children, but also because it calls into question the very necessity, the very centrality of the male-female relationship, for the lives of individuals and society."
She added, "If, as we believe, the relationship between Christ and the Church is glimpsed in a special way in marriage, and if human beings come to understand God's love in a privileged way as spouses, what does it portend if marriage is no longer understood to be the keystone of a good society?"
Scientific data
The law professor underlined "increasingly well-known empirical findings about the disadvantages suffered by children reared outside of married, two-biological-parent households," and noted that for many people, these facts to not seem to matter.
"Adult sexual choices have everything to do with the well-being of the children they make," she stated, "yet bad choices go uncensored by society."
Alvaré reflected on the question of whether religion, law or another element would "influence single women and men to think about the long-term well-being of children."
In her research on the phenomenon of out of wedlock childbearing, she noted an "absence of moral-type thinking about sexual intercourse."
The lawyer observed that "there is room for a lot of improvement in religious communications about morality and sexual behavior."
She added: "This is bad news in the sense that churches have failed to do this in the past. It is good news if it is possible that a really stepped up effort in this regard might make a difference in the future."
Alvaré underlined another point, that "the deep well of mistrust between men and women and the resulting loss to children has to be addressed."
"The relationship between men and women must be healed," she said. "If not, everyone suffers, perhaps most poignantly, the children."
She affirmed that "both law and religion" have "important roles in influencing citizens' ideas about marriage stability."
"Catholics have special gifts and thus special responsibilities here," the lawyer stated.
She explained, "We have remarkably and uniquely developed moral and systematic theologies touching on the meaning of human sexuality.
Therefore, Alvaré said, "on the grounds of our profound understandings of the relationships between marriage and child well-being, and between marriage and our ability to glimpse God's love, Catholics ought to feel especially responsible to be involved in the search for the right contents and mix of legal and religious efforts to re-valorize marriage and marital childbearing."
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On the Net:
Culture of Life Foundation: http://culture-of-life.org/
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Religious Form Network Against Human Trafficking
Urge Christian Charity Faced to "New Form of Poverty"VATICAN CITY, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Human trafficking is a new form of poverty that requires the attention of the Church, affirmed a member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Augustinian Father Eusebio Hernández Sola affirmed this today in a press conference in the Holy See regarding an upcoming congress on the theme of "Female Religious in Network against Trafficking in Persons."
The gathering will take place in Rome starting Monday and ending Thursday, and is being organized by the International Union of Superiors General and the International Organization for Migration.
It aims to evaluate the content of the final declaration of the first congress, which took place in 2007, and to put together a plan of action for the future.
The declaration affirmed, "We denounce human trafficking as a crime that represents a grave offense against the dignity of the person, and a serious violation of human rights."
The commitment to work against this crime arose in the 2001 plenary assembly of the superiors general union, which represents around a million of members of Catholic religious congregations worldwide.
Father Sola affirmed that "the problem of human trafficking represents a new form of slavery of the twenty-first century, one that offends the dignity and freedom of many women and minors, but also of youths and adult men, most of them from poor countries."
"These new forms of poverty," he said, "remind us that religious life is, by vocation, called to play a prophetic role in society and the Church today."
The priest stated, "A new conception of charity must carry consecrated life to the new frontiers of evangelization, and to the new forms of poverty, among the most serious of which is the loss of personal dignity."
Mandate
Salesian Sister Bernadette Sangma, one of the congress organizers, stated that the awareness of human trafficking has recently increased to such an extent that some congregations "have adopted the struggle against trafficking as part of their capitular deliberations, making it an obligatory mandate for members of their congregation."
She noted that this also includes a "number of male orders."
Sister Sangma continued: "Given the complexity of the factors involved in human trafficking, networking in this field is not an option but a necessity if we hope to make any kind of strategic commitment.
"The criminal bands that prey on women and children are highly organized and linked to one another, from one part of the world to the other.
"Only through a networking strategy which includes the victims' countries of origin, of transit and of destination, will it be possible to implement measures to prevent the weakest and most vulnerable people from becoming human merchandise."
The secretary general of the union of general superiors, Sister Victoria Gonzales de Castejon of the Society of the Sacred Heart, reflected on her group's last six years of collaboration with the migration organization.
These years, she said, have been "an opportunity to put the intentions of the union into real effect, and to increase the scope of our actions aimed at contrasting human trafficking."
She continued: "What emerges clearly from the work that has been achieved is the richness and complementarity in exchanges and collaboration between two organizations that represent public and the private aspects -- lay people and female religious -- in the common cause of defending the lives of people who live in situations of poverty and marginalization."
Stefano Volpicelli of the migration organization reported that although there are no precise numbers, it is estimated that every year, millions of people become victims of human trafficking.
He noted some 2.5 million victims in 2007, including 500,000 in Europe.
Father Sola underlined the need to work preventatively, to educate youth, "in school and in the parishes, to build in them the value of respect for persons, whose dignity can never be" made a commodity.
"Reprimanding and punishing will be useless," he said, "if the conscience is not educated in true human and Christian values."
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Cardinal Denounces Shooting at Holocaust Museum
Appeals for End to Racial and Religious PrejudiceWASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference is denouncing Tuesday's shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. that killed a security guard.
In a press release publicized Thursday, Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, stated that the shooting "was a deplorable act of violence and a violation of a hallowed space in our nation's capital."
He affirmed that "by preserving the memory of the six million Jews who died in the Shoah, the museum speaks to the consciences of all who pass through its doors and hear the powerful stories of the innocent men, women and children who lost their lives at the hands of a criminal regime."
"Each year," the cardinal affirmed, "millions of visitors to the museum learn of the dangers of unchecked hatred and of the need to prevent genocide wherever it threatens."
"This tragic incident only serves to reinforce the need for continued education throughout society against bias of every kind, but most especially racial and religious prejudice," he added.
Cardinal George offered "prayerful condolences" in the name of all the U.S. bishops "to the family of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, who died in the line of duty, and to the staff of the museum who endured this appalling act of violence."
He underlined the commitment of the Catholic bishops to protect "the sacredness of all human life" and promote "human dignity and interreligious peace throughout our nation."
The cardinal concluded by reiterating the words of Benedict XVI in his Jan. 28 general audience, "May the Shoah be a warning for all against forgetfulness, denial or reductionism, because violence committed against one single human being is violence against all."
The shooter was identified as a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, James von Brunn, 88, who opened fire in the museum and killed the 39-year-old guard.
In a statement on the Web site of the Washington archdiocese, Archbishop Donald Wuerl stated that this "senseless killing" is "particularly distressing given the museum's special mission to educate our world about violence and be a living reminder of the harm that comes from hatred and anger."
He expressed the hope that the tragedy would be "a call to each of us for a renewed commitment to building a world of peace and respect for all people."
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Prelate Encourages Umbilical Cord Blood Donations
CARDIFF, Wales, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Cardiff is encouraging people to donate the singularly useful umbilical cord blood after giving birth.Archbishop Peter Smith is issuing this appeal on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, celebrated on Sunday, the bishops' conference of England and Wales reported.
The press release noted that "cord blood is rich in stem cells and is already being used to treat many different diseases including leukemia, sickle cell anemia and thalassemia."
Researchers are "now finding more uses for blood donations taken from the umbilical cord at birth," it added.
"Valuable cord blood can be extracted in a simple, safe procedure from the umbilical cord after birth, but currently most of this precious resource is discarded," the statement affirmed.
The archbishop stated, "I encourage people to learn more about cord blood donation and for expectant mothers to consider donating umbilical cord blood after the birth of their child."
He continued, "The birth of a child is a wonderful gift, and a donation of cord blood could help transform the lives of those who could benefit from the extracted stem cells."
The statement explained that the "therapeutic use of cord blood stem cells raises no ethical problems, unlike the use of embryonic stem cells derived from human embryos."
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Caribbean Communication School Opens New Program
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Caribbean School for Catholic Communication in Port of Spain is launching a new program to teach evangelization through technology.In a press release today, Aid to the Church in Need announced the new Pastoral Communications Diploma, which will begin next January.
The school was opened 15 years ago, as an initiative of the University of Dayton along with the Living Water community, a Catholic lay organization that runs television and radio stations in the country.
The aid agency underlined the importance of this endeavor, which they are supporting with a grant, as a response to Benedict XVI's call for evangelization through the media.
The course emphasizes "the importance of spiritual and moral grounding as the underlying basis for the communication skills" with a special focus on developing these capacities within the Caribbean.
Courses include audio and interpersonal communication, film and visual media, and print and new digital technology.
Some 900 men and women from various Caribbean countries have studied at the school since its beginning in 1995.
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Economic Crisis Spurs Knights of Columbus Charity
Organization Reports Increased Donations, Volunteer ServiceNEW HAVEN, Connecticut, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Knights of Columbus set new records for charitable donations and volunteer service hours last year, despite the economic crisis.
Today, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, also a ZENIT weekly columnist, released the information of the past year's activities in a meeting at the group's international headquarters.
He reported that charitable contributions by the knights amounted to over $150 million, which is $5.1 million higher than the previous year.
The data, compiled from an annual survey of all the local chapters, showed some 68.8 million volunteer service hours by knights to charitable causes.
The organization noted some 413,000 blood donations collected by the knights, and 156,295 service hours given specifically to Habitat for Humanity.
The Knights of Columbus has some 1.75 million members in North and Central America, the Philippines, Guam, the Caribbean islands and Poland. It was started in 1882 by the Servant of God, Father Michael McGivney.
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On the Net:
Knights of Columbus: http://www.kofc.org/
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New Orleans Native to Lead Archdiocese
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Today Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Gregory Aymond, currently serving in Austin, Texas, to lead his home archdiocese of New Orleans.Archbishop Aymond, 59, will succeed Archbishop Alfred Hughes, 76, who retired for reasons of age.
A statement from the archdiocese reported that the prelate will be the first New Orleans native to head the archdiocese in its 216 years of existence.
Archbishop Aymond was ordained a priest in 1975, and auxiliary bishop in 1997. In 2000 he was appointed as bishop of Austin.
Archbishop Hughes said that the new archbishop "brings a lively faith, a keen intelligence and a zealous commitment to the mission of the Church."
He noted Archbishop Aymond's "rich background in Catholic education," as he was rector of the Notre Dame Seminary for 14 years, and simultaneously held the post of executive director of Christian formation.
A letter from Archbishop Aymond to the people of New Orleans affirmed, "I look forward to my 'home coming' in August."
He continued: "The priests, deacons, religious and laity in New Orleans form a lively, vibrant family of faith. I look forward to being a part of this family again."
In a press conference later, the prelate stated, "I promise to stay close to the Lord in order that I can fulfill my episcopal ministry faithfully."
He will be installed August 20 to the archdiocese, which has some 384,994 Catholics served by 369 priests, 183 permanent deacons and 721 religious.
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Cardinal Dziwisz on John Paul II's 1st Poland Trip
Krakow Archbishop Explains What Changed EuropeKRAKOW, Poland, JUNE 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The dismantling of the Berlin Wall didn't begin in Berlin; rather it happened in 1979 in Poland, according to Pope John Paul II's longtime personal secretary.
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, now archbishop of Krakow, affirmed this in an interview with Marcin Przeciszewski and Tomasz Królak of the Polish Catholic agency Kai, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Polish Pope's first trip to his homeland.
ZENIT here presents that interview, in which the cardinal suggests that the June 2-10, 1979, papal trip was the event that started to change the face of Eastern Europe.
Q: When did John Paul II begin to think about a possible visit to his homeland?
Cardinal Dziwisz: Already as a cardinal, Karol Wojtyla gave great importance to the 900th anniversary of the death of St. Stanislaw, and from some time before he had prepared the celebrations. He had given invitations to all of the cardinals that participated in the conclave of August 1978 and he immediately invited Pope John Paul I to Krakow as well. Because of this, from the first moment of his election to the See of Peter, it was natural for him to do everything possible to come to Poland to celebrate the anniversary. He felt it a moral duty to be in Krakow, though he realized it wasn't going to be easy to bring this about.
Q: Did he think that the Polish Communist authorities wouldn't easily accept something like this?
Cardinal Dziwisz: When the Polish authorities heard this request, they reacted negatively. But in the mean time, John Paul II had received the invitation to visit Mexico. He welcomed it with joy. For him, Latin America was very important in regard to liberation theology -- the attempt to see the social doctrine of the Church through the lens of Marxist ideology. And he said: If I can go to Mexico, the nation that has the most anticlerical constitution in the world, then even the Polish government cannot tell me no. He well remembered that the Communist authorities had not permitted the visit of Paul VI. But nevertheless he intuited that they couldn't stop him.
Q: When did the negotiations begin?
Cardinal Dziwisz: Quite soon. The negotiation was directed by the secretary of the Polish episcopal conference, Bishop Bronislaw Dabrowski. In the end, Warsaw opened the doors but with a condition: The Pope's visit could not coincide with the anniversary of St. Stanislaw in May. The Holy Father answered: That's fine, then I'll come the next month, in June.
Q: And regarding the itinerary, were there difficulties?
Cardinal Dziwisz: It was established that the Pope couldn't go beyond the Vistula, to the regions of eastern Poland. And Silesia was also excluded. Basically, the authorities wanted the trip to be as brief as possible and the movement very limited.
Q: In the end, the difficulties were overcome. Did John Paul II consider the possible consequences of his trip? Did he realize that it has been so crucial for the development of events in Poland?
Cardinal Dziwisz: No one could foresee that. He was convinced that the Polish nation, so strongly rooted in the faith, deserved the visit of the Pope. Today without a doubt we can say that his first pilgrimage to Poland was the most important of all the papal journeys because it sparked a process of incredible changes at the global level. Everything began during those days.
Q: How did the Pope prepare for this trip?
Cardinal Dziwisz: He alone wrote all the texts of the discourses and the homilies. The role of the Polish section of the secretariat of state was only to give citations. He didn't use any notes; his memory was enough. He was perfectly organized and he wrote very quickly: A long discourse didn't take him more than an hour and a half of preparation. For a brief discourse, an hour was enough. And he read a lot. He was able to do various things at the same time.
Q: The principal theme of the pilgrimage was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. This was cited in almost all the Pope's discourses. Was this a decision that he consulted his collaborators about?
Cardinal Dziwisz: John Paul II was a visionary, like many artists. He knew what to say and what the nation hoped he would say. He knew how to present these themes in the light of faith and the teaching of the Church. Moreover, it was the period of Pentecost.
Q: But did John Paul II realize that the discourse given in Gniezno -- where he affirmed that the mission of the Slavic Pope was to make Europe rediscover the unity between West and East -- called into question the Vatican Ostpolitik that in fact accepted the existing situation?
Cardinal Dziwisz: John Paul II always rejected the doctrine of the "historic compromise," according to which the West and even the Church were to consider Marxism as a decisive element in the development of history. He was convinced that the future belonged to neither Marxism nor the class struggle. In this sense, he decisively changed Vatican politics. The change of perspective caused reflection in many environments and the questioning of if Marxism were really so strong.
With the same determination, John Paul II opposed the attempts to include the Marxist analysis in the social doctrine of the Church in the context of liberation theology. For him, the development of humanity passed through the possibility of choice and through human rights. He was in favor of the rights of the person and the untouchable dignity of man. The discourse in Gniezno marked the beginning of the fall of the Iron Curtain that divided Europe then. The fall of the Wall began there, not in Berlin.
Q: Was there not concern even in the Vatican at the fact that John Paul II was going so far?
Cardinal Dziwisz: A declaration of such force in favor of these rights indeed alarmed some, among them, even men of the Church.
Q: Does it bother you that today they speak of the Berlin Wall and not of Gniezno or the Solidarity Movement?
Cardinal Dziwisz: Historical facts must be spoken of. The fall of the Wall was the consequence of the process begun in 1979 in Poland and I repeat: The dismantling of the Iron Curtain began June 3, 1979, in Gniezno.
Q: In Krakow, during the course of that first trip, the Pope went to the window of the archbishop's residence and spoke with the youth -- a dialogue that would later repeat itself in each of his trips to Poland. Was this on the agenda?
Cardinal Dziwisz: No. It was an absolutely spontaneous initiative. Thousands of people were waiting under the window and they called to the Pope. He had to let himself be seen in some way. The Holy Father made that decision on his own, against the recommendations of some in his party who discouraged it for reasons of security.
Q: In your opinion, what is the deepest meaning of his first pilgrimage to Poland?
Cardinal Dziwisz: After this visit, Poland was no longer the same. The people held their heads up high; they were no longer afraid.
Q: Was the Solidarity Movement born as a natural fruit of this liberation?
Cardinal Dziwisz: John Paul II liberated the interior energy of the people. In this sense, he established the spiritual foundation for the birth of Solidarnosc the next year.
Q: During his return to the Vatican, did John Paul II make any comments about the trip?
Cardinal Dziwisz: He didn't say anything because he had lost his voice. Upon his return, he was very tired; he slept for a stretch of 14 hours.
Q: Let's talk about martial law, introduced by General Jaruzelski in December of 1981. What was the Pope's reaction?
Cardinal Dziwisz: John Paul II rarely showed his concern. But he raised his voice in the Basilica of St. Peter, in the presence of the Polish delegation presided over by President Jablonski. This happened in October of 1982, on the occasion of the canonization of Father Kolbe. The Pope said, "The nation does not deserve what you have done to it."
Q: But John Paul II had taken into consideration the possibility of a Soviet invasion of Poland?
Cardinal Dziwisz: No one took this seriously into consideration, given that the Soviets were already bent on Afghanistan. We knew that the Soviet Union could not permit it. Regarding this we had precise information directly from the White House; we had received them from Zbigniew Brzezinski and from President Reagan himself, who personally called the Pope.
Q: What was the relationship between John Paul II and General Jaruzelski? He continues saying that martial law was the lesser evil compared to the Soviet invasion.
Cardinal Dziwisz: The Pope never accepted such an interpretation. He respected the intelligence and culture of Jaruzelski, but he was not in agreement with him at all. The general looked exclusively at the East. As opposed to Edward Gierek, who, saying goodbye to the Pope at the end of his trip said, "Here in Warsaw, the winds of the East and the West blow. Holy Father, you keep up those of the West."
Q: Let's move to the present. When can we expect the canonization of John Paul II?
Cardinal Dziwisz: That depends directly on Benedict XVI. In any case it seems to me that everything is going very well. The process for the miracle is already under way. And the recognition of the heroic virtues of Karol Wojtyla will be decisive. We hope that the devil doesn't stick his tail in the matter.
Q: Have you ever felt the presence of the devil?
Cardinal Dziwisz: Yes, I've felt it. In the strongest way when the devil was expelled from a young woman. I was there; I know what that means. It is terrible to sense the presence of a force that is so great and incontrollable. I saw how he mistreated her physically, I heard the voice with which he yelled at her. It happened after a general audience. John Paul II recited the exorcism, but nothing. Then he said that the next day he would celebrate Mass for the intentions of the youth. And after this Mass, she suddenly felt like another person; everything had gone away. At first she didn't believe it; she thought that it was a psychic illness. But Satan exists.
Q: And how can his presence in the world be seen?
Cardinal Dziwisz: Satan exists, even though the prevalent ideology thinks this is pure fairytales. Today the devil works so that people believe he doesn't exist. This is a more perfidious methodology.
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