Speaking in the House of Lords, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby expressed his opposition to legislation that would recognise same-sex marriage:
“It (proposed legislation to recognise same-sex marriage) confuses marriage and weddings. …It assumes that the rightful desire for equality – to which I’ve referred supportively – must mean uniformity, failing to understand that two things may be equal but different. …Marriage is abolished, redefined and recreated, being different and unequal for different categories.
“The new marriage of the Bill is an awkward shape with same gender and different gender categories scrunched into it, neither fitting well. The concept of marriage as a normative place for procreation is lost. The idea of marriage as covenant is diminished. The family in its normal sense, predating the state and as our base community of society – as we’ve already heard – is weakened.”
Anniversary of the Good Pope’s death
Last Monday was the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope John XXIII, popularly referred to as ‘the Good Pope’. He died on June 3, 1963, after a five-year-long pontificate that brought radical changes in the Church.
He is mostly known for convening Vatican Council II, the results of which he was not able to see. He called the Council to “throw open the doors and windows of the Church to let in the fresh air”.
He was also the Pope who gave us the 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth). His motto was ‘Obedience and Peace’.
Earlier last week, Pope Francis, while commenting on the anniversary of John XXIII’s death, remarked that he was “a man who was able to communicate peace”. This, Pope Francis said, was because of “a mind deeply at peace, the fruit of a long and challenging work on himself”.
Bishops dissatisfied with general election
Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is in duty bound to explain the malfunctions manifested during the recent election and which were pointed out by various poll watchdogs. He said the Commission had to give a good explanation to the many questions raised by experts in IT.
“There’s a need to study the issues for us to determine if the election was really credible and reflected the will of the people,” he said.
The Archbishop went a step further by declaring that he himself was not satisfied with the way the election was handled, as the glitches mentioned had made the results of the elections “questionable”.
The country’s more than 100 bishops are expected to discuss the recent elections when they meet for their plenary assembly in July.
‘No replay of Arab Spring in Turkey’
Bishop Louis Pelâtre, the apostolic vicar of Istanbul, said the riots in Turkey against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government cannot be described as a replay of the Arab Spring. “One cannot see a real political alternative to the ruling party, which remains strong and has the support of the majority of the population,” he said.
But Mgr Pelâtre called on Erdogan to moderate his support of Islamist elements. “Erdogan has so far yielded space to Islamist groups, but in his party there are other forces and sensitivities. The basis of his consent is wider than the Islamist forces, and he needs the support of all to continue to govern,” Mgr Pelatre said.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)