TCA Podcast, – “Conversations with Consequences,” Episode 170 – Leah Libresco and Pro-Life Philosophy and RFI’s Steven Rasche On Christian Persecution In Nigeria
Catholic convert and author Leah Libresco joins to discuss her own personal story suffering ectopic pregnancies as secular media has been spreading falsities with the reversal of Roe, asking all to ponder the idea of a world with not fewer options for women, but better options. With more reports of priests being killed in Nigeria, we revisit with Steven Rasche of RFI about what we as Catholics can do to help those suffering. Father Roger Landry also offers an inspiring homily for this Sunday’s Gospel. Catch the show every Saturday at 7amET/5pmET on EWTN radio!
https://thecatholicassociation.org/podcast/ep-170-leah-libresco-and-pro-life-philosophy-and-rfis-steven-rasche-on-christian-persecution-in-nigeria/
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1. Garland Threatens States Over Abortion Access, By Sadie Gurman, The Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2022, Pg. A3
Attorney General Merrick Garland threatened to sue states that have outlawed or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month—and said the Justice Department would ask a judge to toss out a Texas lawsuit seeking to block federal rules requiring doctors to perform abortions in emergency situations.
“The Justice Department is going to use every tool we have to ensure reproductive freedom,” Mr. Garland said on Wednesday, adding that its lawyers would be looking at options including initiating litigation or joining private lawsuits against state abortion restrictions.
He didn’t say what legal footing those efforts would have after last month’s ruling eliminated the constitutional right to abortion.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/attorney-general-merrick-garland-says-government-could-sue-states-over-abortion-access-11658354465?
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2. Vatican says they’re gifts; Indigenous groups want them back, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, July 21, 2022, 3:06 AM
The Vatican Museums are home to some of the most magnificent artworks in the world, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to ancient Egyptian antiquities and a pavilion full of papal chariots. But one of the museum’s least-visited collections is becoming its most contested before Pope Francis’ trip to Canada.
The Vatican’s Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum, located near the food court and right before the main exit, houses tens of thousands of artifacts and art made by Indigenous peoples from around the world, much of it sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens.
The Vatican says the feathered headdresses, carved walrus tusks, masks and embroidered animal skins were gifts to Pope Pius XI, who wanted to celebrate the Church’s global reach, its missionaries and the lives of the Indigenous peoples they evangelized.
But Indigenous groups from Canada, who were shown a few items in the collection when they traveled to the Vatican last spring to meet with Francis, question how some of the works were actually acquired and wonder what else may be in storage after decades of not being on public display.
Some say they want them back.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/vatican-says-theyre-gifts-indigenous-groups-want-them-back/2022/07/21/a3528f56-08c3-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html
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3. Experts warn that religious freedom is under fire across the globe, By Inés San Martín, Crux, July 21, 2022
According to experts gathered in Rome this week for a conference organized by the University of Notre Dame, religious freedom is on the retreat across the globe.
“Religious violence has risen to historic levels over the past decade affecting nearly all religious groups,” said Samah Norquist, a fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
“Believers of nearly all faiths including Christians, Muslims, and Jews, Buddhists, Yazidis, Baha’i have faced discrimination, harassment repression and, of course, persecution by state and non-state actors well as ideological movements,” Norquist said.
This allegation was backed by Nury Turkel, the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bi-partisan, independent advisory body that monitors religious freedom abroad.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2022/07/experts-warn-that-religious-freedom-is-under-fire-across-the-globe
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4. Appeals court allows Georgia abortion law to take effect, By Kate Brumback and Jeff Amy, Associated Press, July 20, 2022
A federal appeals court overturned a lower court ruling and allowed Georgia’s restrictive 2019 abortion law to take effect immediately Wednesday. The decision was expected after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that there is no constitutional right to an abortion.
The law, which had been barred from taking effect, bans most abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” is present. Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before many pregnancies are detected.
The Georgia law includes exceptions for rape and incest, as long as a police report is filed. It also allows for later abortions when the mother’s life is at risk or a serious medical condition renders a fetus unviable.
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-georgia-government-and-politics-f04d74670ee52e62b60aae667a0205e9
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5. Vatican permission still unclear on ‘Traditionis’, By Ed. Condon, The Pillar, July 20, 2022
A Georgia bishop’s announcement that celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass will end in his diocese next year raises unresolved questions about the power of the diocesan bishop to dispense from the provisions of Traditionis custodes, and about the authority of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship over diocesan bishops leading local churches.
In an announcement Friday, Bishop Stephen Parkes of Savannah said the Vatican’s liturgy office had granted permission for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form to continue in two parish churches – something otherwise prohibited by Traditionis – but only until May of next year.
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But, one year on from the promulgation of Traditionis, some canonists debate whether the bishop needed permission at all.
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Taking the specific permission sought by Bishop Parkes for the Extraordinary Form to continue in some parish churches, Roche’s December responses say simply that the diocesan bishop “can” ask the dicastery to dispense, not that he “must.”
Some Church commentators in favor of a strict application of Traditionis have argued that such distinctions are mere semantics, and that bishops like Paprocki, who have acted in line with the plain text of the motu proprio (and the teachings of Second Vatican Council and canon law), are flouting Pope Francis’ will.
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As more dioceses move to announce permanent settlements for the application of Traditionis in their dioceses, we are likely to see very different conclusions, delivered with very different pastoral and canonical rationales behind them. That diversity, and Rome’s reaction to it, will likely prove the true limits of Archbishop Roche’s power to impose his own interpretation of the pope’s law.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/vatican-permission-still-unclear
__________________________________________________________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. |
