BAMBIN GESU HOSPITAL ON CHARLIE GARD THERAPY – JESUS’ 12 PROMISES FOR DEVOTION TO HIS SACRED HEART

It’s once again a quiet day at the Vatican but things will surely change in coming days as Pope Francis nears the end of his working vacation at the Santa Marta residence. He has, of course, appeared in the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace on Sundays for the Angelus, and will resume the weekly general audience on Wednesday, August 2, in the Paul VI Hall. The weather here has been exceedingly hot, although today and yesterday were rather reasonable with temps in the mid-80s to 90s. Those temps are doubtless the reason for holding the general audience inside.

The U.S has been having its own problems with heat waves and fires in many parts of the country but Italy has been suffering in many ways that are almost historical in nature, with both fires and severe drought.

The drought, brought about by some of the driest weather to affect Italy in 60 years, has left rainfall totals 80% below normal. Rome has had only 26 rainy days in this year’s first six months of this year, compared to 88 in the first half of 2016. Water rationing is still a possibility and could last as long as eight hours daily in alternating neighborhoods.

Rome’s celebrated Trevi Fountain risks running dry, as do other fountains in the Eternal City. We’ve already seen that the Vatican has chosen to turn off its fountains in St. Peter’s Square as well as inside Vatican City State.

One news source reported that Farmers’ lobby Coldiretti last week estimated 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) worth of damage so far to Italian agriculture due to the crisis. Among those suffering are farmers growing canning tomatoes in the southeastern region of Puglia, wine grapes throughout much of Italy and those cultivating olives — all signature crops for the nation.

BAMBIN GESU HOSPITAL ON CHARLIE GARD THERAPY

(ANSA) – Rome, July 25 – Mariella Enoc, president of Rome’s Bambino Gesù children’s hospital, said Tuesday that Charlie Gard’s therapy would not have been suspended if he had been at the Vatican-owned structure.

“I don’t know why the English hospital decided to suspend the child’s treatments,” Enoc told a news conference. “I know that here with us this would not have happened… I don’t know if it would have been possible to save Charlie, but I do know that lots of time was wasted in legal debates that served for nothing.”

On Monday the parents of the terminally ill British 11-month-old gave up their legal battle to have their son treated abroad. Earlier in July, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano that legal reasons prevented Britain from allowing the family to take up an offer from Bambino Gesu’ hospital to try to cure the child.

The hospital had offered to help Gard’s mother Connie Yates and her husband Chris Gard after Pope Francis said treatment should be provided “until the end.” “The experimental therapy could have been an opportunity for Charlie Gard but it came too late,” said Bambino Gesù expert Professor Enrico Silvio Bertini.

“Unfortunately, it has emerged that it is impossible to start the experimental therapeutic plan in the light of the clinical evaluation… because of the seriously compromised condition of little Charlie’s muscle tissue,” said Bertini, the head of Bambino Gesù’s muscular and neurodegenerative illnesses department. (ANSA, a national Italian news agency)

JESUS’ 12 PROMISES FOR DEVOTION TO HIS SACRED HEART

Christians have devoted themselves to the veneration of Jesus’ Sacred Heart for centuries! While many saints have claimed to have had private revelations about Jesus’ Sacred Heart, the modern Catholic devotion is based primarily on the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17^th century. (As with all private revelations, Catholics are not obliged to believe them).

Following are the 12 promises privately revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque by Jesus for those who practice devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

1) I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2) I will establish peace in their homes.
3) I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4) I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
5) I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6) Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7) Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
8) Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9) I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
10) I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11) Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
12) I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
(Source: ChurchPOP)

POPE FRANCIS SIDES WITH PARENTS OF BABY CHARLIE GARD – CARDINALS OF THE ROMAN CURIA AND TERM LIMITS – THE GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS STORIES FROM MOSUL

Given the huge numbers of greetings and best wishes and promises of prayers and Masses that I received for my birthday it is virtually impossible to thank each and every one of you individually. Please know I read every word and appreciated every thought as I read your greetings. May God bless you abundantly. He has already blessed me with your friendship!

POPE FRANCIS SIDES WITH PARENTS OF BABY CHARLIE GARD

On June 29^th, the Pontifical Academy for Life issued a statement on the case of Baby Charlie Gard, with remarks by academy president, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.

The Academy has been under scrutiny for a number of months and for a number of reasons since the archbishop was appointed to lead it. Not the least of these is the composition of new members – appointed by Pope Francis – some of whom support euthanasia and abortion up to a certain period. In addition, the statement that every academy member in the past was required to sign, stating they would adhere to and promote the Church’s teaching on life issues, is no longer required of new members.

The academy statement on Baby Charlie is here: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/06/29/vaticans_academy_for_life_issues_statement_on_charlie_gard/1322138

Moments after it came out, the statement was labeled “dubious,” “a disgrace,” and “disconcerting”.

Seems Pope Francis must have been a bit disconcerted as he read the Academy statement because, on June 30^th, he tweeted: “To defend human life, above all when it is wounded by illness, is a duty of love that God entrusts to all.”

And he has been keeping tabs on the Baby Charlie case as we see in the following Vatican Radio report from Sunday, July 3:

Pope Francis has expressed his “affection and emotion” at the situation of Charlie Gard and “his own closeness to his parents”.

A statement Sunday from Greg Burke, director of the Holy See Press Office, said the Pope prays for 10-month old Charlie Gard’s parents and hopes “that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end is not ignored.”

Charlie was born with a rare genetic condition called mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.

The European Court of Human Rights last week rejected a plea from the baby’s parents to be allowed to move him to the United States for experimental medical treatment.

 The press ofice statenent: “The Holy Father follows with affection and emotion the case of little Charlie Gard and expresses is own closeness to his parents. For them he prays, hoping that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end is not ignored.”

CARDINALS OF THE ROMAN CURIA AND TERM LIMITS

Cardinals have traditionally led the nine congregations of the Roman Curia with the title of prefect. They are always appointed by the Pope.

As you know, Sunday, July 2, it was announced that Pope Francis had replaced Cardinal Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the CDF – Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – with the CDF’s Secretary, Jesuit Archbishop Luis Ladaria.

Cardinal Mueller-

In essence the Pope did not renew the cardinal’s five-ear mandate which expired precisely on Sunday. A mandate is not renewed usually for one of two reasons: the title holder has reached or gone over the age of 75 or there are reasons of health to consider. Neither is the case of Cardinal Mueller who is 69.

Since the rumor began circulating the day before the news, there has been much speculation – and a lot of interesting media headlines – to why the Pope took this action. A number of the stories are well written and even handedly present the situation. Others are not, as some of the headlines suggest.

The people I was with when the rumor broke, and others I saw and have spoken to since, to a person said they were ‘mystified’, even saddened, by Pope Francis’ decision.

If what was reported in the cardinal’s interview with a German paper, Allgemeine Zeitung, is accurate, the Pope told him he would not be renewing curia terms after their five year expiration date.

Here is a look at current prefects, when they were appointed and, in parentheses, the year their mandate will expire:

Cardinal Angelo AMATO (Congregation for Causes of Saints) – July 2008 (July 2018)

Cardinal Leonardo SANDRI (Cong. for Oriental Churches) – June 9, 2007 (June 2017)

Cardinal Beniamino STELLA (Cong. for Clergy) – Sept. 21, 2013  (Sept 2018)

Cardinal Robert Sarah (Cong. for Divine Worship) – Nov 23, 2014 (2019)

Abp. Luis Ladaria, SJ, (Doctrine of the Faith) – July 2, 2017 (2022)

Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi (Catholic Education) – March 31, 2015 (2020)

Cardinal Fernando Filoni (Evangelization) – May 10, 2011 (2021)

Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz ( Inst. of Consecrated Life) – January 4, 2011 (2021)

Cardinal Marc Ouellet (Bishops) – June 30, 2010 (2020)

ALSO: Cardinal Giusepe Bertello, (“Governor” of Vatican City) – Sept 3, 2011 (2021)

THE GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS STORIES FROM MOSUL

The miracle of the church of St. Thomas, spared of Isis bombs – by Jérémy André

It is the oldest church in the city, located two streets from the destroyed al-Nouri mosque. Outside it has only “a few scuff marks”, while the interior was devastated during its occupation. St Thomas’s relics were saved three years ago when the city fell into the hands of Isis.

Mosul (AsiaNews) – It’s a miracle. Mosul’s historic center has been torn apart by bullets and mutilated by the Islamic State (Isis or Daesh) explosives. In this surreal landscape, where the interweaving of white stones and black metal reminiscent of Picasso’s Guernica, one thick-walled building has only a few scuff marks: St. Thomas is the oldest church in the city, more than 12 centuries old! It has existed since the end of the eighth century, but is considered much older and was founded in the place where the Apostle of the East is believed to have lived while passing through the city. The interior was devastated by the occupants who had made it a military base. But the monument, whose structure dates back to at least the 13th century, survived the battle.

“They are crazy”

The al-Nouri mosque, two streets further north, was not so fortunate. The ISIS terrorists blew it up on Wednesday, June 21, at sunset. Its ruins now form a lunar chaos, bleached by powdered plaster. Only the green dome emerges, balancing on pillars partially damaged by the explosions, and the base of the minaret, 12 meters high, with finely carved geometric bas-reliefs.

For the rest of this AsiaNews story (with photos): http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Mosul:-The-miracle-of-the-church-of-St.-Thomas,-spared-of-Isis-bombs-41183.html