Speaking to the Catholic News Service about the conflict in Gaza, Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of Jerusalem said: “We are sad for this escalation. It does not lead to peace but only leads to more violence. This is a vicious circle of violence and (retaliation) is really not the solution. Courageous decisions need to be taken from the part of Israel and also on the part of Hamas not to remain in the circle of retaliation.
“Left alone, Israel and Hamas will remain in a circle of retaliation. The most important thing is to find a comprehensive solution to the whole Palestinian-Israeli conflict; if not, we will remain with the same retaliations and the same problems.”
Healing and keeping the Catholic identity
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Ministry, said: “It’s fundamental that Catholic health centres maintain their identity without compromise, welcoming everyone without ceding to harmful forms of secularisation or relativism”.
He was addressing the 17th international conference on The Hospital, Setting for Evangelisation: a Human and Spiritual Mission.
He said it is important that those in healthcare should see their work as “an authentic vocation”, otherwise they could not fulfil their mission properly and insisted that there should be respect of all human life from its conception to its natural end.
‘Concentrate on Jesus’ – Pope Benedict
While addressing the faithful last Sunday, Pope Benedict said Christians should not concern themselves with predictions of the end of the world.
He added that the essential thing for Christians is union with Christ.
In speaking about the end of the world the Pope said Jesus uses Old Testament imagery to describe “a future that exceeds our own categories of comprehension”.
Most importantly, the Pope said, Jesus reminds his disciples that their focus should be on “a new centre: Himself, the mystery of his person, his death and resurrection”.
Vietnam trampling on human rights – report
In a report published early this month the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Vietnamese Catholic Church said that far from having improved, the situation of human rights and individual freedoms, and the process of democratisation of the country seem to continuously worsen and are affecting political, economic and financial, relations with foreign countries and within Vietnamese society.
Among abuses of human rights mentioned in the report are the conviction of three young Vinh Christians, the trial of three famous bloggers and the arrest of the head of the Commercial Bank of Asia.
Lift seal of Confession in cases of sex abuse?
Cardinal George Pell of Sydney reiterated Catholic doctrine that the seal of Confession is inviolable. He said this in the light of a number of opinion pieces in various media in Australia asking Church leaders to break the Confessional seal in cases of sexual abuse. They are also asking the Government to move on its own if Church leaders do not oblige.
Mgr Pell said he was “ashamed” of Catholic priests’ involvement in abuse, adding that he was not denying the extent of wrongdoing in the Catholic Church. But he said “the seal of Confession is inviolable” and said Australian law clearly respects the seal and any assault on it is an assault on religious freedom.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)