By Nicole Winfield and Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press, November 26, 2019

Pope Francis wrapped up his visit to Japan in a very personal way Tuesday, spending the morning with his Jesuit confreres in the community that would have been his own had his dream to be a missionary come true.

Francis celebrated morning Mass in the chapel of the Jesuit-run Sophia University and visited retired and sick priests before delivering a speech on Jesuit education in the final event of his weeklong Asia pilgrimage.

“In a society as competitive and technologically oriented as present-day Japan, this university should be a center not only of intellectual formation, but also a place where a better society and a more hope-filled future can take shape,” he told faculty and students.

As a young Jesuit in Argentina, the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio had dreamed of following in the footsteps of St. Francis Xavier, who introduced Christianity to Japan in the 16th century.

https://apnews.com/7326be7985574cebaec1df116b3ccda0
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2. Making Capitalism Great Again?, Marco Rubio’s ideas for fixing our free-market system have a familiar ring.

By William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal November 26, 2019, Pg. A13, Opinion

Marco Rubio thumps for “common good capitalism.” Elizabeth Warren speaks of “making markets work for people.” While their prescriptions differ, they share the conviction that capitalism is in crisis and must be “fixed” if it is again to serve the American people.

They share another assumption as well. Those who disagree are latter-day Panglossians in thrall to laissez-faire fundamentalism.

…
 Now, Sen. Rubio gets full marks for advancing his argument so forthrightly at Catholic University’s Busch School of Business, in a speech that suggests the outlines of a post-Trump form of Republican populism. But there are serious objections that can’t be answered merely by dismissing critics as soulless libertarians.

Some of us, for example, don’t agree with the senator’s characterization of American capitalism, or what economic growth means for American workers. It follows that we doubt his prescriptions.

…
The voluntary relationship between buyer and seller at the heart of the free market isn’t the love of neighbor commanded by the Gospel. But in making market success depend on anticipating the needs of the other, it’s perhaps not as far removed as we might think.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/making-capitalism-great-again-11574726835
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3. Two Priests Are Convicted of Sex Abuse, Argentine court finds clerics targeted deaf students, in case that puts pope in spotlight.

By Ryan Dube, The Wall Street Journal November 26, 2019, Pg. A16

An Argentine court found two Catholic priests guilty of sexually abusing children at a school for the deaf, in a case that horrified the country and raised questions about how Pope Francis, an Argentine native, responded to the crimes.

The two clerics—the Rev. Nicola Corradi and the Rev. Horacio Corbacho—and a third man, a gardener, on Monday were found to have sexually abused 11 boys and girls as young as 5 years of age at the Provolo Institute in the town of Lujan de Cuyo from 2005 to 2016.

Father Corradi, an 83-year-old Italian citizen, was sentenced to 42 years in prison, while Father Corbacho, a 59year-old from Buenos Aires province, received a 45-year-sentence for abusing and, in some cases, raping children. The court gave an 18-year sentence for sexual abuse to Armando Gomez, the gardener at the school in the western Mendoza province.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/argentine-court-convicts-two-catholic-priests-of-sexually-abusing-deaf-students-11574721251
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4. In Argentina, two priests found guilty, Convictions in sexual abuse of deaf students another blot on Vatican.

By Anthony Faiola, Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli, The Washington Post, November 26, 2019, Pg. A1

An Argentine court on Monday found two priests and a lay worker guilty of the sexual abuse of 10 former students of a Catholic school for the deaf, the first legal victory for a community of victims stretching from Italy to the Andes whose complaints about one of the clerics to church officials, including Pope Francis, went unheeded for years.

The verdict was another stain on the church’s handling of sex abuse cases in Francis’s native Argentina. Prosecutors last week requested an arrest warrant for Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, a longtime associate of the pope accused of abusing two seminarians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/argentine-court-finds-two-priests-guilty-of-sexually-assaulting-deaf-children-first-convictions-in-long-alleged-abuse/2019/11/25/460af56a-0f8b-11ea-924c-b34d09bbc948_story.html
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5. Pope Issues Warning on Nuclear Arms and Energy.

By Motoko Rich, The New York Times, November 26, 2019, Pg. A6

In the first visit to Japan by a pontiff in 38 years, Pope Francis on Monday edged close to calling for the renunciation of all nuclear power in a country that experienced the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl but has yet to determine a viable alternative for its energy needs.

A day after traveling to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the only places where atomic bombs have ever been used in war, the pope met in Tokyo on Monday with victims of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that ravaged northeastern Japan.

Francis noted that the Catholic bishops of Japan had called for the shutdown of all nuclear plants in Japan after the 2011 disaster, in which waves from the tsunami overpowered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and set off catastrophic meltdowns in three reactors.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/25/world/asia/pope-francis-japan-nuclear.html
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6. Abortion provider accused of hiding criminal, professional misconduct.

By James Varney, The Washington Times, November 26, 2019, Pg. A3

The Louisiana Department of Justice says it has discovered evidence of alleged criminal activity at the abortion business in the center of an upcoming Supreme Court abortion case.

The department says Hope Medical Group for Women, an abortion provider in Shreveport and subsidiary of June Medical Services, hid evidence of criminal and professional misconduct from the high court as the company challenges the state’s regulations on abortion clinics.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments early next year on the clinic’s challenge to a Louisiana law that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. It is one of a series of lawsuits the clinic has filed against Louisiana anti-abortion measures that have passed the legislature since 2014.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/nov/25/hope-medical-group-for-women-abortion-provider-in-/
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7. Why US Bishops Place ‘Preeminent Priority’ on Stopping Abortion, Several bishops explained to the Register why this concern continues to be emphasized in their ‘Faithful Citizenship’ guidance for Catholic voters.

By Lauretta Brown, National Catholic Register, November 25, 2019

A debate arose during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall general assembly about whether or not the bishops should name the abortion issue as a “preeminent priority” in their short letter on faithful citizenship. Ultimately, the majority of bishops applauded continuing to prioritize the issue, and several of the bishops told the Register why the abortion issue has to remain in the forefront for the Catholic voter.

During a Nov. 12 discussion over whether or not to include a lengthy quote from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad) in a short letter to supplement the U.S. bishops’ document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego took issue with a portion of the letter that called the abortion issue a “preeminent priority.”

Bishop McElroy argued that naming the abortion issue as a “preeminent priority” was at odds with Church teaching and with the quote from Pope Francis’ exhortation, which emphasizes that the lives of the unborn are “equally sacred” with “the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”

…
Archbishop Charles Chaput disagreed with Bishop McElroy’s assertion that naming abortion as a preeminent priority was at odds with the words of Pope Francis or with Church teaching, and he was greeted by loud applause from his fellow bishops in a break from typical conference etiquette.

“I am certainly not against quoting the Holy Father’s full statement. I think it’s a beautiful statement. I believe it. But I am against anyone stating that our stating it [abortion] is ‘preeminent’ is contrary to the teaching of the Pope,” he said. “That isn’t true.”

Archbishop Chaput added that “it’s been a very clearly articulated opinion of the bishops’ conference for many years that pro-life is still the preeminent issue. It doesn’t mean the others aren’t equal in dignity.”

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/why-us-bishops-place-preeminent-priority-on-stopping-abortion
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