Pope Francis Urges Catholic Lawmakers to Protect Human Dignity Online

Speaking to the International Catholic Legislators Network, the Pope encouraged the politicians to “make every effort to undertake serious and in-depth moral reflection on the risks and possibilities associated with scientific and technological advances.”

Pope Francis greets participants in a meeting promoted by the International Catholic Legislators Network in the Vatican's Clementine Hall, Aug. 27, 2021.
Pope Francis greets participants in a meeting promoted by the International Catholic Legislators Network in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Aug. 27, 2021. (photo: Vatican Media. / Vatican Media)

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis urged Catholic lawmakers Friday to protect human dignity online by using public policy to combat child pornography, data breaches, and cyber attacks.

“In our age particularly, one of the greatest challenges confronting us is the administration  of technology for the common good,” Pope Francis said in the Apostolic Palace on Aug. 27.

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

“By means of policies and regulations, lawmakers can protect human dignity from whatever may threaten it. I think, for example, of the scourge of child pornography, the misuse of personal data, attacks on critical infrastructures such as hospitals, and the spread of false information on social media and so on,” he said.

Speaking to the International Catholic Legislators Network, the Pope encouraged the politicians to “make every effort to undertake serious and in-depth moral reflection on the risks and possibilities associated with scientific and technological advances.”

Pope Francis said that moral reflection on technology would help ensure that laws and regulations focus on “promoting integral human development rather than progress as an end in itself.”

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

“The wonders of modern science and technology have increased our quality of life,” he said. “At the same time, left to themselves and to market forces alone, without suitable guidelines provided by legislative assemblies and public authorities guided by a sense of social responsibility, these innovations can end up becoming a threat  to the dignity of the human person.”

The International Catholic Legislators Network is a group of Catholic parliamentarians from around the world that holds an annual private meeting in Rome.

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

The group, founded in 2010 by the Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and David Alton, a member of Britain’s House of Lords, is dedicated to religious liberty, Church-state relations, the protection of life, and communicating Catholic thought in secular politics.

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

“Your work as lawmakers and political leaders is more important than ever. Charged with serving the common good, you are now being challenged to direct your efforts to the  integral renewal of your communities and of society as a whole,” Pope Francis said.

“This entails more than simply combating the virus or seeking to return to the status quo prior to the pandemic — no, that would be a failure — it demands confronting the deeper causes that the crisis has laid bare and aggravated: poverty, social inequality, widespread unemployment, and the lack of access to education.”

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

Among those present at the papal audience were Christiaan Alting von Geusau, president and rector of the International Theological Institute in Vienna, Cardinal Schönborn, and Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

“In an age of upheaval and political polarization, legislators and politicians in general are not always held in high esteem,” the Pope said. “Yet what loftier vocation can there be than that of serving the common good and placing the welfare of the community before our personal advantage?”

Vatican Media.

Vatican Media.

“If we are to heal our world so harshly tried by the pandemic, and build a more inclusive and sustainable future in which technology serves human needs without isolating us from one another, we need not only responsible citizens, but also capable leaders inspired by the principle of the common good,” Pope Francis said.

Source: ncregister.com


EU bishops’ commission urges action to protect religious freedom

EU bishops’ commission urges action to protect religious freedom

European Union flags flutter outside the EU headquarters in Brussels July 15, 2021. (Credit: CNS photo/Yves Herman, Reuters.)

BRUSSELS — European bishops called on the European Union to do more to protect religious freedom in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of efforts to strengthen the bloc’s role as a “global humanitarian, development, economic and peace actor.”

“Vulnerable religious communities are experiencing discrimination, intolerance and, in some cases, persecution as victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,” the Brussels-based Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union said in a joint statement with the non-Catholic Conference of European Churches.

“The Union needs to pay particular attention to protecting and promoting freedom of religion or belief in the world — not only as a human right, but also as a strategic dimension of democratic freedom, conflict prevention, and a way to foster social peace, justice and reconciliation,” said the commission, known as COMECE.

The statement followed a July 15 online meeting of church representatives with the EU’s new Slovenian presidency, which took office July 1.

It said the EU should update its 2013 Guidelines on Religious Freedom, while “putting in place a mechanism” to reinforce them globally in line with “a new European strategic culture of peace.”

“Together, we represent the membership of around 380 million EU citizens, and we are strongly committed to develop the European project on the basis of the Christian ideals of justice, peace and the integrity of creation,” the statement added.

Church leaders repeatedly have called on the EU to link protection of religious rights to its aid and trade packages amid reports of worsening violations across the world.

In May, a new EU religious freedom envoy was appointed, two years after the post was allowed to lapse following the resignation of Jan Figel of Slovakia.

COMECE said it also wanted to see religious freedom fully restored within the EU itself in the wake of forced church closures despite a current resurgence in coronavirus cases.

It added that religious freedom remained “a matter for national authorities” in the 27 member-states, but was also affected by EU policies, which should now focus on “re-expanding freedom of worship to pre-pandemic standards.”

“Freedom of religion or belief needs to be promoted and protected in our European societies — we encourage the EU presidency to look at EU initiatives through this lens,” the commission said.

“Reopening policies should take into account the situation and needs of churches, both as actors that can facilitate recovery through their social actions, and as actors in need of recovery support.”

The statement said a “resilient and healthy Europe” should show greater concern for “hidden vulnerabilities” in EU societies, as well as ensuring a just distribution of vaccines.

Source: cruxnow.com


48 Christian Churches in Canada Have Been Burned Down or Vandalized as Persecution Continues

Video footage shows a woman attempting to light a Canadian church on fire days before the church burned to the ground.

Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a press release that St. George Coptic Orthodox Church was destroyed in an early Monday morning fire, the cause of which is still under investigation. The fire is being treated as “suspicious,” particularly in light of video surveillance footage obtained by CTV Vancouvershowing a woman attempting to light the church on fire last Wednesday.

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Authorities have not established that the incidents are connected. Sergeant Elenore Sturko told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday that the suspect in the July 14 video, described as a “Caucasian woman, 5’7 tall, with a heavy-set build, and dark hair,” has not yet been identified.

The church, attended by more than 380 families, also served as a daycare to 65 children, CTV reported.

“We will not be deterred and we will rebuild,” said Bishop Mina of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Mississauga, Vancouver and Western Canada, the Vancouver Sun reported.

“The timing of this fire … raises many questions about what the authorities did to protect our church, especially considering the attempt on the same church this past Wednesday,” he added, according to the Vancouver Sun.

The Royal Mounted Canadian Police told the DCNF Tuesday that though it is investigating the crimes against churches, it does not have statistics on how many churches have been vandalized or burned.

“The RCMP is tracking/investigating these crimes where we are the police of jurisdiction. We don’t have a mandate to collect/track statistics for crimes investigated by other police departments,” RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival told the DCNF.

At least 48 Christian churches in Canada have either been vandalized, desecrated, or burned down since unmarked graves were uncovered near residential schools for indigenous children, according to one estimate by the Canadian publication True North.

The New York Post’s Kelly Jane Torrence criticized media outlets for suggesting Canada had hidden “genocidal death camps.”

Torrence wrote the unmarked graves are “confirmations” of a sad history Canadians have always known, rather than “discoveries.”

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation report, released in 2015, found that thousands of children died from disease in the overcrowded schools and that lack of supervision allowed for abuse and neglect.

“This is not a mass gravesite,” Saskatchewan First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorm said June 24, regarding burials found near a former Indian residential school. “These are unmarked graves.”

“The finds were shocking but not surprising,” wrote Torrence. “As a schoolgirl in Canada, I learned the ugly history of the country’s forced assimilation policy. Over the course of a century, 150,000 native children were torn from their families — by force, if necessary — and sent to get an English- (or French-) language education in government-funded schools run mainly by the Catholic Church.”

Torrence wrote that most of the clergy in charge were “well-meaning,” but that some “took advantage of their positions to inflict abuse.”

“The idea was to turn poverty-stricken children into productive, even prosperous, members of mainstream Canadian society — and, from the church’s perspective, to save their souls,” she added. “Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015 that at least 3,200 students died, later revising that figure to 4,100. The No. 1 cause of death was tuberculosis; influenza hit hard, too. Far from home, children were often buried on site, their graves marked with wooden crosses, most of which deteriorated and disappeared.”

LifeNews Note: Mary Margaret Olohan writes for Daily Caller. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience.

Source: lifenews.com