1. Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai goes to jail—and his shepherd is missing in action, By William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2020, Pg. A17, Opinion
Jimmy Lai has embraced his destiny. Last Wednesday the founder of one of Hong Kong’s most popular newspapers, Apple Daily, was arrested on ginned-up fraud charges. On Thursday he was clapped into jail as a national security risk. Thus did a man who started the week a Hong Kong billionaire end it a Chinese dissident.
…
But there is one place where China’s bullying elicits only silence: the Vatican. Which is strange, because Jimmy Lai is not only Hong Kong’s most well-known champion of democracy; he is also its most prominent Catholic layman. At a moment when he and his family most need their shepherd, Pope Francis is MIA.
The silence might be understandable if Pope Francis were in the tradition of pontiffs who hold themselves aloof from worldly affairs. But Pope Francis is a man who readily weighs in on outrages wherever he finds them, whether it be modern air conditioning, American capitalism or Catholic moms who breed “like rabbits.”
But on China . . . silence. It’s the deliberate consequence of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with Beijing, just recently renewed, that gives the Communist state extraordinary say over the selection of Catholic bishops—and whose terms Rome insists on keeping secret. The Vatican defends the deal as the means for carving out protections for the church’s continued presence in China. Unfortunately, rather than herald a thaw in China’s hostility toward religion, persecution has increased—and not only against Catholics.
…
Alas, Pope Francis not only chooses to see no evil in China, he won’t hear of any, either. In September, Cardinal Zen flew to Rome on his own initiative to talk to Pope Francis about what Beijing was doing to the Catholic faithful in Hong Kong and China. Pope Francis refused to see him. Yet later the pope did find the time to discuss justice and inequality with an NBA players union delegation, which presented him with a Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
…
If the Vatican’s approach is to be justified by cold realpolitik, it ought to have the integrity to not shirk from acknowledging the price. To wit, it now requires Pope Francis to look the other way when China unjustly jails or persecutes those of his own flock.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-silence-of-pope-francis-11607381295
___________________________________________________________
2. Biden’s Identity Health-Care Pick, Becerra’s only qualification is that he sued Trump many times, By The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2020, Pg. A18, Editorial
Joe Biden checked two Democratic boxes—Hispanic and lefty—on Monday by tapping California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to run Health and Human Services. Progressives are ecstatic, but Mr. Becerra’s views and lack of health-care experience are cause for close Senate confirmation scrutiny.
…
The AG has also taken up the secular left’s battering ram against religious conscience protections for health-care providers. In National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018), he defended a state law requiring prolife pregnancy centers to provide notices to women about publicly funded abortion. The Supreme Court ruled against him 5-4.
…
Mr. Becerra’s selection is what happens when identity and ideology trump experience and expertise. He is Mr. Biden’s most disappointing choice so far.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-identity-health-care-pick-11607382320?
___________________________________________________________
3. Pope makes surprise early morning prayer visit in rainy Rome, By Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press, December 8, 2020, 6:02 AM
Pope Francis on Tuesday made a surprise early morning visit to the Spanish Steps in Rome to pray for people worldwide struggling in the pandemic.
The Vatican last week said that due to social distancing concerns Francis was canceling the traditional Dec. 8 afternoon visit to the square that draws big crowds.
Instead, with rain falling and dawn breaking, Francis popped up in the square at the foot of the Spanish Steps at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT), two hours after the end of Italy’s overnight curfew.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-makes-surprise-early-morning-prayer-visit-in-rainy-rome/2020/12/08/d348b92e-3944-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html
___________________________________________________________
4. Joe Biden’s Choice Of Xavier Becerra To Run Hhs Is A Gross Insult To Catholics, By Ashley McGuire, The Catholic Association, December 7, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of Xavier Becerra to run HHS is a gross insult to Catholics. Becerra spent years tormenting the Little Sisters of the Poor in court, trying to force them to pay for things like abortion pills against their consciences. He also led efforts to force pro-life pregnancy resource centers to advertise for abortion. Thankfully both of his efforts failed at the Supreme Court. But Becerra is outright hostile to religious liberty and Biden’s choice of someone so openly anti-Catholic is an affront to the faith that he so frequently invoked as part of his campaign.
https://thecatholicassociation.org/joe-bidens-choice-of-xavier-becerra-to-run-hhs-is-a-gross-insult-to-catholics/
___________________________________________________________
5. Anti-abortion groups call Biden health secretary pick Xavier Becerra ‘a pro-abortion extremist’, By Cassidy Morrison, The Washington Examiner, December 7, 2020, 7:10 PM
Anti-abortion advocates decried President-elect Biden’s selection of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to head the Department of Health and Human Services, citing his record of opposing abortion restrictions.
…
Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with The Catholic Association, said Biden’s choice “is a gross insult to Catholics … Becerra is outright hostile to religious liberty and Biden’s choice of someone so openly anti-Catholic is an affront to the faith that he so frequently invoked as part of his campaign.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/anti-abortion-groups-call-biden-health-secretary-pick-xavier-becerra-a-pro-abortion-extremist
___________________________________________________________
6. ‘Aggressively Pro-Abortion’: Pro-Life Activists, Lawmakers Denounce Biden HHS Pick Becerra, By Mary Margaret Olohan, Daily Caller, December 7, 2020, 5:40 PM
Pro-life groups and lawmakers denounced President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
…
Senior fellow with The Catholic Association Ashley McGuire called Biden’s choice of Becerra “a gross insult to Catholics,” similarly citing Becerra’s action against the Little Sisters of the Poor and pro-life pregnancy resource centers.
“Thankfully both of his efforts failed at the Supreme Court,” she said. “But Becerra is outright hostile to religious liberty and Biden’s choice of someone so openly anti-Catholic is an affront to the faith that he so frequently invoked as part of his campaign.”
https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/07/becerra-hhs-biden-abortion-pro-life/
___________________________________________________________
7. Pro-lifers, religious liberty advocates sound alarm over Biden HHS pick Xavier Becerra, By Sam Dorman, Fox News, December 7, 2020
A number of Catholics and conservative activists are sounding the alarm Monday over Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Xavier Becerra, pointing to his record of attacking conservative policies as California’s attorney general.
“President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of Xavier Becerra to run HHS is a gross insult to Catholics,” said Ashley McGuire, senior fellow with the Catholic Association.
“Becerra spent years tormenting the Little Sisters of the Poor in court, trying to force them to pay for things like abortion pills against their consciences,” McGuire said. “He also led efforts to force pro-life pregnancy resource centers to advertise for abortion. Thankfully both of his efforts failed at the Supreme Court. But Becerra is outright hostile to religious liberty and Biden’s choice of someone so openly anti-Catholic is an affront to the faith that he so frequently invoked as part of his campaign.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pro-lifers-religious-liberty-advocates-becerra-hhs.amp
___________________________________________________________
8. Missouri referendum petition laws ruled unconstitutional, By Margaret Stafford, Associated Press, December 7, 2020, 6:38 PM
Laws used by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft last year to slow the collection of signatures on a referendum seeking to overturn the state’s restrictive abortion laws are unconstitutional, a circuit court judge has ruled.
Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem said in his ruling that Ashcroft did not give opponents of a law banning abortion after eight weeks enough time to collect signatures.
A combination of state laws prohibit petitioners from collecting signatures until after the secretary of state’s office has certified the referendum’s official title.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the No Bans on Choice Committee sued Ashcroft, a Republican, after he did not approve the title until August, saying his delay in certifying the title gave them only two weeks to gather the 100,000 signatures needed to get the issue on this year’s ballot.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/missouri-referendum-petition-laws-ruled-unconstitutional/2020/12/07/465c7348-38e5-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html
___________________________________________________________
9. US Supreme Court urged to protect KY religious schools from shutdown, By Catholic News Agency, December 7, 2020, 4:37 PM
An order shuttering in-person education until Jan. 4 in Kentucky amid rising COVID-19 cases amounts to religious discrimination, the US Supreme Court has been told in amici curiae briefs.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) temporarily halted in-person learning in the state by executive order.
The order, which applies to both public and private schools, allows for elementary schools in “red” zones (counties with 25 or more new coronavirus cases a day) to reopen as long as they are following state public health guidance.
Danville Christian Academy sued over the order.
A federal district judge had ruled Nov. 25 that Beshear’s order could not apply to private religious schools because it infringed on their First Amendment rights. On Nov. 29, a federal appeals court overturned that decision, upholding Beshear’s original order.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-supreme-court-urged-to-protect-ky-religious-schools-from-shutdown-71436
___________________________________________________________
10. Report: Vatican seeks 8-year jail sentence for ex-Vatican bank president, By Catholic News Agency, December 7, 2020, 8:00 AM
The Vatican’s Promoter of Justice is seeking an eight-year jail term for a former president of the Institute for Religious Works, according to Italian media reports.
The HuffPost said Dec. 5 that Alessandro Diddi had requested the sentence for Angelo Caloia, the 81-year-old ex-president of the institute commonly known as the “Vatican bank”, for money laundering and self-laundering, and embezzlement.
Caloia was president of the institute — also known by its Italian initials, IOR — from 1989 to 2009.
The website said that this was the first time that the Vatican had sought a prison sentence for financial crimes.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/report-vatican-seeks-eight-year-jail-sentence-for-ex-vatican-bank-president-angelo-caloia-31939
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
