1. Pompeo Handed Biden a Gift on China, By Grazie Pozo Christie, Real Clear Policy, February 11, 2021, Opinion
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo handed the Biden Administration a great gift. The question now is whether Team Biden is wise enough to accept it. Pompeo declared at the last-minute that the Chinese Communist Party’s atrocities against the Uighurs can be formally characterized as a genocide. This gives President Biden and his team a chance to place our country on the right side of history.
…
Then-Secretary Pompeo made clear in making this declaration of genocide that what is being done to the Uighurs today has not been seen on the world stage since the Holocaust. Cultural annihilation, gulag, slave labor, genocidal sterilization — the very words are frightening. More frightening still is the fact that behind these words are millions of our fellow human beings suffering these things one by one.
The fact is that China’s growing global influence makes countries loath to speak out against the Communist Party’s crimes against humanity. American leadership is needed to turn the tide and encourage other nations to take punitive measures against China, such as the Trump administration’s sanctions against senior Party leaders involved in the atrocities. But this is just a start. President Biden needs to focus his attention like a laser on the human rights catastrophe of our age and land us on the right side of history. Only this can prevent the remorse that is surely in our country’s future if we continue to look the other way.
Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie is a policy advisor for The Catholic Association.
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/02/11/pompeo_handed_biden_a_gift_on_china_659897.html
___________________________________________________________
2. Arkansas Senate OKs health care religious objections bill, By Andrew DeMillo, Associated Press, February 11, 2021
The Arkansas Senate on Wednesday approved a measure allowing medical providers to refuse to treat someone because of their religious or moral beliefs, a move critics say will allow them to turn LGBTQ patients away.
The majority-Republican Senate voted 27-6 in favor of the measure, which says health care workers and institutions have the right to not participate in non-emergency treatments that violate their conscience. The proposal now heads to the House.
Supporters of the bill said it would protect health care workers from being forced to perform something that goes against their conscience.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2021/02/arkansas-senate-oks-health-care-religious-objections-bill/
___________________________________________________________
3. Catholic charity confirms allegations of assault against founder, By Elise Ann Allen, Crux, February 11, 2021
On Wednesday well-known Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, known for its support of persecuted Christians, confirmed reports that the organization’s founder has been credibly accused of sexual assault.
A Feb. 10 article in a supplement for German newspaper Die Zeit reported that an apostolic visitation into Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), took place in 2009, finding that the organization’s founder, Belgian Father Werenfried van Straaten, was found guilty of “serious violations” in four areas of Catholic moral and social teaching.
The executive president of ACN International, Thomas Heine-Geldern, confirmed the allegations to Crux.
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2021/02/catholic-charity-confirms-allegations-of-assault-against-founder/
___________________________________________________________
4. White House not ready for immigrants, Biden under pressure to reverse Trump policies, give amnesty, By Seth M Claughlin And Stephen Dinan The Washington Times, February 11, 2021, Pg. A1
The White House pleaded with would-be illegal immigrants and legitimate asylum-seekers on Wednesday to stay home, saying the U.S. doesn’t have the capacity to handle them right now.
“Now is not the time to come,” Jen Psaki, President Biden’s spokeswoman, told reporters. “The vast majority of people will be turned away.”
The stark statement comes as Mr. Biden is under increasing pressure from his left flank to dismantle the Trump immigration machinery and make life easier for illegal immigrants, both those already here and migrants looking to come from Latin America.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops added its voice Wednesday, urging the Catholic president’s team to announce a deportation amnesty for potentially millions of illegal immigrants from Central America, saying conditions in their home countries after last year’s hurricanes are too horrid to return to.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/10/white-house-now-not-time-seek-asylum/
___________________________________________________________
5. Nun named to voting position at Vatican praises ‘brave’ pope, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, February 10, 2021, 12:23 PM
A French nun who has become the first woman to hold a voting position at the Vatican said Wednesday that her appointment is evidence the “patriarchal mindset is changing” as more and more women assume high-level decision-making responsibilities in the Catholic hierarchy.
Sister Nathalie Becquart said during a news conference that her appointment as an undersecretary in the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops office was a “brave signal and prophetic decision” by Pope Francis, who has repeatedly stressed the need for women to have a greater say in church governance.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nun-named-to-voting-position-at-vatican-praises-brave-pope/2021/02/10/aa924038-6bc4-11eb-a66e-e27046e9e898_story.html
___________________________________________________________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. |
