LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT – ARCHBISHOP GAENSWEIN TALKS OF TWO POPES

POPE FRANCIS’ TWEET FOR THE DAY: The one who helps the sick and needy touches the flesh of Christ, alive and present in our midst.

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT

This just in from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty:

Forced to choose faith or massive fines, nuns seek relief

JULY 23, 2015 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, for the second time in two years, the Little Sisters of the Poor must ask the Supreme Court to protect them from the government. The order of Catholic nuns and other non-profits have been forced to ask the Court for relief to the government’s refusal to exempt them from a regulation that makes them choose between their faith—which prohibits them from providing contraceptives—and continuing to pursue their religious mission of serving the elderly poor.

“The government has lost every single time they have made these arguments before the Supreme Court—including last year’s landmark Hobby Lobby case. One would think they would get the message and stop pressuring the Sisters,” said Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead attorney for the Little Sisters of the Poor. “The government is willing to exempt big companies like Exxon, Chevron, and Pepsi Bottling, but it won’t leave the Little Sisters alone.”

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and leading Supreme Court advocate Paul Clement—the same legal team that won Hobby Lobby—filed the petition on behalf of the Little Sisters as well as the Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust, Christian Brothers Services, Reaching Souls International, Truett-McConnell College, and GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. They are seeking relief from a 100-page decision by the Tenth Circuit that disagrees with the ministries’ understanding of moral theology. Today’s petition is the fifth the Court has received and makes it likely the Court will decide in the upcoming term whether religious ministries, like religious for-profits, will receive protection from the Mandate.

“The Sisters consider it immoral to help the government distribute these drugs. But instead of simply exempting them, the government insists that it can take over their ministry’s employee healthcare to distribute these drugs to their employees, while dismissing the Sisters’ moral objections as irrelevant,” said Rienzi. “In America, judges and government bureaucrats have no authority to tell the Little Sisters what is moral or immoral. And the government can distribute its drugs without nuns—it has its own healthcare exchanges that can provide whatever it wants.”

“As Little Sisters of the Poor we dedicate our lives to serving the neediest in society, with love and dignity. We perform this loving ministry because of our faith and simply cannot choose between our care for the elderly poor and our faith, and we shouldn’t have to,” said Sr. Loraine Marie Maguire, Mother Provincial of the Little Sisters of the Poor. “We hope the Supreme Court will hear our case and ensure that people from diverse faiths can freely follow God’s calling in their lives.” For more, click here: http://www.becketfund.org/littlesisters-scotus-appeal/

ARCHBISHOP GAENSWEIN TALKS OF TWO POPES

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, private secretary to Pope emeritus Benedict XVI and Prefect of the Papal Household for Pope Francis talks about the two Popes in a wide-ranging interiew done by Zenit. He is asked how he manages collaborating with two Popes, about the different personalities of each pontiff, about Benedict’s election and his reaction and then, eight years later, his resignation. He also talks about the problems the Church in Germany is experiencing.

The archbishop also talks about the upcoming October Synod, saying it “must begin not from a particular problem, but from the main topic and that is, from ‘the evangelization of the family’. Clearly the Church doesn’t close her eyes in face of the difficulties of faithful living in difficult situations. However, the Church must give sincere answers that are oriented, not to the spirit of the times, but to the Gospel, to the Word of Jesus Christ and to the Catholic Tradition.”

Click here to read the entire interview: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/francis-is-the-only-convincing-voice-that-says-things-as-they-are

POPE FEARS FOR VICTIMS OF ISIS, NOT FOR HIMSELF – PAPAL IPAD BRINGS $30,500 AT AUCTION – VATICAN WEBSITE HACKED AFTER PAPAL REMARKS ABOUT GENOCIDE – ITALIAN COAST GUARD RESCUES 10,000 MIGRANTS IN 5 DAYS – AND JUST FOR FUN….

 

As I said on my first post today, there was a lot of news about and from the Vatican so I’ll be posting two separate blogs. The first one, as you have possibly seen by now, was all about Pope Francis’ wonderful talk at today’s general audience as he continues a series of  catecheses on the family.

The second story was about the ninth meeting of the C9 – The Council of Cardinals who are papal advisors – and summarizes their work from three days of meeting with the Pope in the Santa Marta residence.

I also wrote about Cardinal Roberto Tucci who died last night at the age of 93.

And now, here are a few Vatican-related stories, one about the terrible tragedy of migrants drowning by the hundreds in attempst to reach Italy from Africa and a final story which is, as I say, “just for fun.”

POPE FEARS FOR VICTIMS OF ISIS, NOT FOR HIMSELF

(ANSA) April 14 – Pope Francis has no personal fear of Islamic State (ISIS) militants but is fearful for the brutal mass murder they are inflicting on Christians, the prefect of the Papal Household, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, said in a TV interview that was aired Tuesday night.

“The Pope has no fear for himself (but) he does for the faithful and these threats must certainly be taken seriously,” Abp. Gaenswein told the Retequattro programme La Strada dei Miracoli (The Road of Miracles). “The pope has spoken of this problem of people being persecuted only because they are Christians; they are killed, burned alive and decapitated. …  That regards the faithful. For himself, I don’t think he has any fear of the fundamentalists.” http://popefrancisnewsapp.com/

PAPAL IPAD BRINGS $30,500 AT AUCTION

(Reuters) – An Apple iPad which belonged to Pope Francis fetched $30,500 at auction on Tuesday, with proceeds going to a school for the poor in Uruguay, the local auction house selling the item said. The Castells auction house in Montevideo said the winning bid was placed by telephone, but declined to disclose the buyer’s identity or nationality.

It is not the first time Pope Francis, who has often criticized orthodox market economics for fostering inequality, has donated a personal belonging. Last year, a Harley-Davidson motorbike he had received as a gift fetched 241,500 euros ($257,681).

“May you do something good with it,” Uruguayan priest, Fr. Gonzalo Aemilius recalled being told by the Argentina-born pope when he handed over the iPad. Aemilius in turn donated the tablet to the Francisco de Paysandu high school, located about 370 kilometers (230 miles)north of the capital, Montevideo. School officials said that after a string of failed attempts to sell the iPad through auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s they were offering the iPad through local auction house Castells.

The device carries the inscription “His Holiness Francisco. Servizio Internet Vatican, March 2013,” and has a certificate signed by the Pope’s personal secretary, Fabian Pedacchio Leaniz. Pope Francis has called the Internet a “gift from God,” but confesses to being a “disaster” with technology.

VATICAN WEBSITE HACKED AFTER PAPAL REMARKS ABOUT GENOCIDE

(ANSA) New York, April 15 – A Turkish hacker repeatedly attacked the Vatican website between Monday night and Tuesday morning following Pope Francis’ remarks denouncing ‘genocide’ of the Armenians in the First World War, US news reports said Wednesday. The hacker subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack and asked the Pope to withdraw his remarks, according to the website The Hill.  The hacker claimed responsibility via Twitter, calling himself THTHerakles and saying he would continue to attack the site http://www.vatican.va.se “if the Holy See does not make official excuses,” the Washington Post said.

ITALIAN COAST GUARD RESCUES 10,000 MIGRANTS IN 5 DAYS

(ANSA) April 15 – Almost 10,000 migrants have been rescued in recent days, Coast Guard officials said Wednesday as new waves of people continued to arrive on Italian shores triggering concerns that this spring could set new deadly records for both migrant crossings and deaths. Some 1,511 people were rescued on Tuesday alone in 12 different operations coordinated by the national Coast Guard relief service. That came after 8,480 people were reported rescued in the Mediterranean between Friday and Monday.

The rescues continued amid growing fears that about 400 migrants may have drowned in the sea off Libya after the NGO Save the Children said witnesses had reported a boat capsizing off the Libyan coast. About 144 people were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard from that boat on Monday and nine bodies were recovered.

Among Wednesday’s arrivals were 236 migrants including eight children and many pregnant women brought to Messina in Sicily.

AND JUST FOR FUN….

Rome may introduce 3D “augmented reality” glasses for the Roman Forum that would give visitors the possibility of experiencing the ancient Roman ruins with new verisimilitude to the days of Caesar, Trajan and Nerva, Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino said Tuesday. Rome is contemplating experimentation with the ‘immersive’, high definition, virtual reality glasses designed by two young Roman engineers. The first applications for the glasses have been at rock concerts in Rome.     “We are organizing a surprise for April 21 – Christmas in Rome,” said Marino. City sources said that a feasibility test of the project is now being launched. (ANSA)