(ZENIT News – BitterWinter / Brasilia, 04.30.2024).- The Brazilian government should allow “the use of clothing or accessories related to belief or religion in photos of official documents.. as long as they do not prevent proper individual identification and the face remains visible.”

This is the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF) that ruled on April 17 on the case of a Paraná Catholic nun from the Sisters of Santa Marcelina who was refused renewal of her driver’s license since she insisted on providing her picture dressed in religious clothing and wearing a veil.

The nun sued the Traffic Department in a case that had implications for other official documents and for Muslims and members of other religions. The decision of the Supreme Court was somewhat expected. The government itself and the Traffic Department had decided at the beginning of April, shortly before the Court’s decision, to amend their policies and allow the use of religious clothing in pictures used for official documents, including driver’s licenses.

The decision of the Supreme Court will now prevent future governments from altering the regulations again in a more restrictive sense.

The Brazilian Supreme Court’s verdict comes one week after French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal created controversies in Canada by publicly expressing his support to the controversial Quebec secularism law that prohibits many public sector employees from wearing religious symbol at work. While Attal used a visit to Canada to support the law, Canada’s federal government is considering joining the religious and educational organizations that have challenged the Quebec law at the Supreme Court.

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Fr Romanelli is parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. He was in Bethlehem buying medicine when Hamas attacked Israel on 7th October, and has not been able to return to Gaza since the war broke out.

The Archbishop and Fr Romanelli, with Canon Mark Madden from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool, met privately before joining the Archbishop at Evening Prayer in the Lambeth Palace Crypt Chapel. During the service, the Archbishop anointed Fr Romanelli with Chrism oil, and Fr Romanelli gave the blessing at the end of the service.

Archbishop Justin Welby said: “It was a privilege to welcome Father Gabriel Romanelli to Lambeth Palace, and to pray with him for peace and justice in the Holy Land. Since Hamas’ attack on 7th October, Fr Romanelli has been unable to return to his parish and parishioners at the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. In that time, they have endured more than six months of Israeli bombardment, with up to 600 displaced people currently sheltering in the parish.

“In following Jesus Christ’s teaching to serve and feed all people without distinction, the church is a beacon in the region. Its ministry looks after the poor, the sick, young people with special needs and elderly people in need of care. This work has been made immeasurably harder by a war that has decimated infrastructure essential to human survival. Meanwhile the scarcity of humanitarian access to and within the Strip continues to prevent aid workers from distributing life-saving supplies.

“As I have said before and repeat again: international humanitarian law is resolutely clear that all parties to a conflict must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. This is especially true for Israel as the Occupying Power.

“I continue to pray and call for an immediate ceasefire, for the release of hostages, and for unimpeded aid to reach the people of Gaza. I pray that God watches over all those in Gaza, that Christians living there in unimaginable circumstances are kept safe, and that Fr Romanelli is allowed to return to continue his church’s important work.”

The Church of the Holy Family is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip. It runs three schools for children of all faiths as part of its ecumenical ministry, and has more than ten ambulances, as well as two care homes for disabled children and adults.

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The judges ordered the forced removal of three Palestinian families from their homes, giving the members – around twenty people in total as reported by the Palestinian agency Wafa – until mid-July to leave their homes and move elsewhere, freeing up the properties.

The decades-long dispute in Sheikh Jarrah, exploded in early May 2021, coinciding with the legal battle over the ownership of some houses, with pro-settler movements trying to evict Palestinian families.

The controversy concerns the Church of the Holy Land and three years ago also triggered violent flash fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. As explained by the former Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem of the Latins Msgr. Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, still resident in the holy city today, the issue is the result of “Israel’s plan” to “occupy as much land and houses in East Jerusalem” by strengthening the “expropriation plans”.

In March 2022 the Supreme Court itself intervened, “freezing” the expropriations and placing the entire issue back in the hands of the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Saleh Diab, a member of one of the groups interested in the eviction, reports that in May last year a hearing was held at the court of first instance in Jerusalem.

Despite the supreme judges’ decision, a magistrate decided to reopen the case under pressure from the Nahalat Shimon group, linked to the settlers; it has been fighting for some time to try to expel the 28 Palestinian families – for a total of around 500 people – from their homes through a legal battle in the courtrooms.

Diab adds that these families have been living in the disputed homes for 56 years and have been fighting eviction attempts since 2009.

According to the tribunal, there was an illegal and untitled occupation of the properties, which were owned by the Jews. In contrast, Palestinian families say they have lived in the homes for decades.

The Sheikh Jarrah complex was built on empty land that, before the 1948 war, was owned by Jewish religious associations. After the conquest of East Jerusalem, the Israeli government approved some laws that allowed the reclaiming of properties stolen from the Jordanian government in 1967. In reality, the law only allows the reclaiming of assets controlled by Amman and attributable to enemy entities.

But in case the Jordanian government has transferred ownership to private individuals, they retain the title and rights. What is certain is that this saga has become one of the symbols of the ongoing struggle between the various souls of the holy city, with inevitable political and confessional mixes.

In 2021 at the time of the protests – which later resulted in the short but large-scale conflict in Gaza – among those who played a key role was the extremist leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, at the time an opposition parliamentarian and now Minister of National Security .

The sentence of recent days comes at a time of great tension in Jerusalem due to the war in Gaza and the ongoing escalation with Iran and due to the repeated episodes of violence in the West Bank, with killings and seizures of land. In these hours the release of an Israeli army provision for the seizure of 64 thousand square meters of land in the al-Bouira area, north of Hebron, the first step towards the creation of a new residential and industrial settlement for the settlers .

The decision would lead to the forced displacement of approximately 8 thousand Palestinians living in the area. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights intervened against the policy of expropriations and forced displacements and, addressing the Israeli security forces, asked them to “immediately put an end to their active participation and support for settler attacks against the Palestinians”.

This is inked to the escalation of attacks against villages and cities, triggered by the death of a 14-year-old Israeli boy and which led to the killing of seven Palestinians and the wounding of 75 other people.

In addition to deaths and injuries, the attacks caused hundreds of homes and other buildings, as well as cars, to burn. “Israel, as an occupying power, must take all measures in its power – concludes the UN note – to restore and guarantee, as far as possible, public order and security” in the West Bank.

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The proposal is an amendment to article 3 of the European Charter and states that “every person has the right to physical autonomy and free, informed, full and universal health, and sexual and reproductive rights, as well as all related health services, including access to safe and legal abortion without discrimination.” To be noted is that the reference to physical autonomy is based on the widespread error that the baby is a part of the woman’s body, false appreciation that neglects the autonomy of the DNA and physical constitution of the foetus, which are different from those of the mother.

The Parliament also approved insisting that doctors and all European medical institutions deny the acceptance of conscience clauses to perform abortion. One should ask oneself if this request is valid from the principle of freedom and respect of individuals’ conscience.

The initiative was accepted by 336 votes  in favour, 163 against and 39 abstentions. Despite the backing of the votes, its implementation won’t be easy, as it requires the unanimous approval of the members of the European Council, where all the countries are represented. If Malta — where abortion is illegal –, or one of the conservative governments of Italy, the Czech Republic or Hungary is opposed, the initiative will disappear.

A statement of the COMECE Bishops of the whole of Europe — the body that brings together the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union –, published on April 9, reiterated the rejection of abortion, as “it can never be a fundamental right” given that it goes “in the opposite direction of the real promotion of women and their rights.”

Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said that the resolution shows a “total absence” of the child’s right to be born. “In my opinion it is very grave, both from the cultural as well as the social point of view. And he explained: “It’s a choice that goes backward, not forward. It goes against the respect of all rights, including of the weakest. In the case of the unborn child, who is the weakest, who cannot talk, who cannot claim anything; and it is logical and too easy to affirm the rights of the strongest, forgetting the weakest. It is a mistaken choice to demand a right for only one part, not both.”

“I have many friends, for instance Angelo Vescovi, who is President of the Italian Bioethics Committee, who is against abortion although he is not a believer or a Catholic. The question is simple here: Is it a life that has been generated or not? If it is a life, with what right do I exclude or eliminate it?”

Referring to the ‘Dignitas Infinita’ document, published this week by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, he reaffirmed: “We are against the death penalty, war, abortion, injustice, the absence of rights in work, the absence of the defense of life, including for those working in terrible conditions. This is what we absolutely must promote: the complete defense of life, beginning by that of the weakest.”

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(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / New York, 04.18.2024).- Hundreds of parliamentarians from around the world gathered in Oslo, Norway for a sexual and reproductive health conference aimed at advancing abortion access, expanding sexuality education, and ensuring online speech complies with the abortion agenda.

The three-day IPCI conference was convened by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a UN agency that promotes abortion services as indispensable for the realization of women’s health rights, and the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF).

The conference also marked the 30th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the first global conference where abortion as a right was first discussed and ultimately rejected by UN member states.

This conference culminated with a Statement of Commitment and Plan of Action entitled “Life or Death is a Political Decision.” At its core, the eight-page document pledges to advance the pro-abortion agenda with greater assertiveness and says that parliamentarians “cannot afford business as usual…. [and] must mobilize new stakeholders and expand alliances.”

The statement calls for abortion access to women everywhere, stressing “the need for realizing SRHR for all…including…by providing safe abortion services.”

Norway, the host country and a staunch advocate for abortion access in Europe and beyond, recently pledged $54M to UNFPA. Norway said that “Sexual and reproductive health and rights are one of the most controversial areas within international development, with strong forces pushing back against progress made. UNFPA is at the forefront of the ‘push forward, against the pushback.”

The IPCI statement also asks for scaling up comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programs, as a “key to ensuring that adolescents and youth are able to make informed decisions and develop respectful relationships.” In a 2022 publication, UNFPA called CSE a human right in itself yet the development and implementation of CSE curriculum is highly controversial. Critics call out CSE initiatives for exposing children to inappropriate sexual materials, dismantling heteronormativity, and encouraging sexual activity among adolescents.

The parliamentarians also pledged to combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence, an ambiguous term they say will combat online harassment against women and girls. In reality, it will be used to censor individuals to comply with the progressive agenda on homosexuality and transgenderism in their online speech. Using the “wrong” pronouns when addressing someone online, for example, could amount to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

Another topic covered at IPCI was artificial intelligence (AI). Parliamentarians committed to ensuring that “AI development and deployment prioritize ethics, human rights, and address biases that exacerbate discrimination against women, girls, minorities, and marginalized populations. This includes […] combating discriminatory laws.” Such language could have serious implications for pro-life speech and legislation as the pro-life stance is considered discriminatory by IPCI standards.

Although the ethos of the conference is rooted in an ideologically progressive worldview that sees abortion as liberation for women, in an exchange with Inter Press Service, the President of the European Parliamentary Forum and pro-abortion advocate Petra Bayr, said “Fundamental human rights issues must never be dependent on ideology and religion.” However, while there is no internationally recognized right to abortion, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes a universal right to life.

The document will have no force in law but will certainly be used to argue a global right to abortion.

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(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / New York, 04.16.2024).- he UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that could have serious implications for freedom of speech.

Progressive UN member states proposed an AI resolution that gives policymakers the leverage to mandate that AI systems operate “ethically” and “fairly” in the name of “human rights”. Such provisions could be used to stifle conservative viewpoints on abortion and human sexuality, among other topics.

The resolution, proposed by the U.S., calls on governments to get involved in all levels of design, development, and implementation of AI technology to eliminate the risk of “improper or malicious design development” of AI systems that could hinder the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda features a commitment to widespread access to “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”, a euphemism used to promote abortion services. Designing AI systems that promote the 2030 Agenda would systematically favor content that promotes the pro-abortion narrative to the detriment of pro-life speech.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, introduced the text before the General Assembly and said, “No government or other actor should use AI to undermine peace or repress human rights and that even the most well-intentioned people need help catching and rooting out vulnerabilities and bias.”

This comes at a time when the Biden Administration is ramping up efforts to combat “anti-rights” groups, an ambiguous term often used to refer to pro-life, socially conservative organizations.

In the past two decades, the UN system has sought to expand the original understanding of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and include rights that are at odds with the deeply held moral and religious beliefs of many people around the world. Major UN Agencies such as UN Women and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) often regard any criticism of abortion as an opposition to gender equality and human rights. As Thomas-Greenfield admitted, the resolution is supposed to amplify the work of UN entities and ensure that the AI systems align with their understanding of human rights.

Designing AI systems that promote the 2030 Agenda and UN agencies’ take on human rights could also result in the mass silencing of traditional views on human sexuality and gender norms and create the false impression that the progressive view is the only legitimate perspective.

At a recent UN event on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, a spokesman for the UNFPA said that we need to “dismantle harmful social norms to challenge stereotypes and harmful norms.” Such phrasing is a direct reference to online social conservative speech and content.

According to UN Women, those who say gender is binary or that marriage should only be between a man or a woman, are not only promoting harmful social norms but engaging in acts of gender-based violence. Efforts to combat traditional social norms are gaining traction around the world. In Mexico, Rodrigo Ivan Cortes, former congressman and pro-life leader was prosecuted for “misgendering” his fellow congressional representative.

The resolution also calls for multi-stakeholder collaboration on AI development and asks “the private sector, civil society, international and regional organizations, academia and research institutions and technical communities…to continue to work together.” However, oftentimes, these multi-stakeholder partnerships function as echo chambers where individuals may hold differing perspectives on technical matters yet share a steadfast commitment to the progressive view.

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Bishop Keenan adds; “Assisted suicide sends a message that there are situations when suicide is an appropriate response to one’s individual circumstances, worries, anxieties. It normalises suicide and accepts that some people are beyond hope.”

The full text of Bishop Keenan’s response is shown below.

***

Response to The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill from Bishop John Keenan, Bishop of Paisley”

“Liberal Democrat MSP, Liam McArthur, has today published a damaging bill which attacks human dignity and introduces a dangerous idea that a citizen can lose their value and worth.

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill may refer to ‘assisted dying’, but this is a euphemistic term which doesn’t accurately describe the reality. Assisted dying is already practised by our health professionals and organisations, in the form of palliative care. An accurate term for what the Bill seeks to legalise is assisted suicide. It is a law which will allow a doctor to provide a patient with a lethal cocktail of drugs to kill themselves.

Implicit in assisted suicide is that the value of human life is measured by efficiency and utility and not by dignity. In crude terms, it means an individual can lose their value to society because of illness or disability. We are called to care for those who suffer, including those at the end of life. In this way, the appropriate response of civic society to suffering is not to facilitate death by prescription, but rather, to provide good, reliable care, including palliative care, for all those who need it.

Assisted suicide sends a message that there are situations when suicide is an appropriate response to one’s individual circumstances, worries, anxieties. It normalises suicide and accepts that some people are beyond hope.

Furthermore, assisted suicide undermines trust in doctors and damages the doctor- patient relationship. And in countries where assisted suicide is legal, there is evidence that vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled, experience external pressure to end their lives. In Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal, it is common for around half of people to list fear of being a burden as one reason for hastening their death. It is little wonder that most major disability organisations in the UK are opposed to assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide is also uncontrollable. Every country where assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal has seen so-called ‘safeguards’ eroded and eligibility criteria expanded to include people with arthritis, anorexia, autism, dementia. And also, children.

When vulnerable people, including the elderly, poor and disabled, express concerns about being a burden, the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have a duty to die; rather, it is to commit to meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion they need to help them live.

This Bill has been introduced in Holy Week, when Christians reflect on the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus, the man who is their Lord and God and showed us what it means to be truly human. Where Liam McArthur’s Bill sees little point in human suffering and promotes the idea that a person’s life can become so hopeless as to be no longer worthwhile, this week is a timely reminder that when we support each other in suffering it can lead to a truly dignified death and offer the best of hope and possibility for our world.”

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Biden’s decision to choose Good Friday for this proclamation did not go unnoticed, as many were surprised to see that the President did not mention Good Friday or Easter Sunday in his statement, preferring to highlight the visibility and rights of transgender people instead of commemorating a central event of Christianity.

In his proclamation, Biden said that transgender Americans are an integral part of society and deserve the same rights and liberties as any other citizen. However, some critics pointed out that this affirmation contradicts the freedom of expression and religion of those opposed to the gender ideology.

Biden’s proclamation also condemned those opposed to the orthodoxy of his new state religion, describing the efforts to protect children from the influence of this ideology  as “odious.” This position has been strongly criticized by Republicans and Religious Leaders, who believe that Biden is promoting a divisive agenda that undermines traditional values.

The White House tried to defend the proclamation, arguing that Easter Sunday coincided with Transgender Day of Visibility and that Biden celebrates both evens simultaneously. However, this explanation has not convinced everyone, especially after Biden denied having marked Easter Sunday as Transgender Day of Visibility, in a subsequent statement to the media.

Biden’s decision to issue his proclamation on Good Friday, together with his lack of explicit acknowledgement of the importance of Easter in his declaration, has fanned the flames  of controversy and highlighted the tension between transgender orthodoxy and traditional Christianity in the United States.

Ultimately, Biden’s proclamation shows how the political agenda and gender ideology are increasingly intertwined in the public sphere, which generates divisions and tensions in American society. Meanwhile, Religious Leaders and defenders of children’s rights continue fighting to protect the fundamental values and beliefs that have sustained the nation for centuries.

Trump’s Response

Former President Donald Trump launched a strong criticism against current President Joe Bidden, in response to his declaration designating Easter Sunday as “Transgender Day of Visibility.” In a campaign event in Wisconsin, Trump suggested that Election Day  in November (on the 5^th) be known as “Day of Christian Visibility,” with the hope that Christians will mobilize en masse to defeat Biden.

During his address in Green Bay, Tump expressed his indignation over Biden’s decision, describing it as a total lack of respect for Christians. “What the devil was Biden thinking when he declared Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’?”, asked Trump before an enthusiastic crowd.

Earlier, Trump’s campaign had issued a statement condemning Biden’s proclamation, describing it as awful and insulting. Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary of Trump’s campaign, expressed her consternation given the White House’s decision to ban religious designs on Easter eggs in the artistic Easter event and to formalize Easter Sunday as “Transgender Day of Visibility.”

Trump’s campaign team appealed to the Biden Administration to apologize to the millions of Catholics and Christians in the United States who consider Easter Sunday a unique celebration: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In an attempt to counteract Biden’s declaration, Trump proposed the establishment of “Christian Visibility Day” on November 5, in the hope that Christians will mobilize en masse to express their discontent and their support of traditional values. Trump’s proposal reflects the growing division in American society over questions related to gender identity and religion, and suggests that these controversies will continue being  a burning topic in American politics.

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Around seventy participants attended the event, both in presence and online, during which the Salesian family promoted a constructive dialogue on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, through Don Bosco’s good practices involving NGOs, European companies, Salesian Vocational Educational Training (VET) centres and Salesian sport centres in third countries.

The examples of the ZwickRoell VET Academy in India, the Puratos Bakery School in El Salvador, and the Real Madrid Foundation social-sports school in Dominican Republic showed how civil society actors and companies can implement sustainable programmes based on common values such as social inclusion, youth empowerment, integral human development, and passion.

Despite a different nature and final aim, there are companies and NGOs that can share a common vision able to positively change the lives of beneficiaries, especially those of young people from vulnerable backgrounds and at risk of social marginalization.

As underlined by MEP Ibán García del Blanco, the European Union is taking the first steps to oblige large companies to identify, prevent, end or mitigate adverse impacts of their activities on human rights and on the environment. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive would represent an improvement in the protection of children and youth rights, workers, and environmental sustainability.

In collaboration with social and institutional actors, DBI will continue to advocate promoting Don Bosco’s values in EU policies.

Among the main speakers: MEP Ibán García del Blanco, Fr. Rafael Bejarano Sdb – Global Coordinator of Salesian Social Works, Piero Fabris – Executive Director of DB Tech Europe, Fr. Alex Figueroa – Director of Red América Social Salesiana (RASS), Tony Cnudde – Corporate Fundraiser at VIA Don Bosco, Jean-Philippe Michaux – CFO – Group Director of Finance, ICT & Legal Affairs at Puratos, Dr. Susanne Franke – in charge of Corporate Co-operation at Don Bosco Mondo, Dr. Jan Stefan Roell – Chairman of the Supervisory Board ZwickRoell AG, Carlos Caballero Alemany – Head of Partnership Department at Misiones Salesianas.

The event is the result of the advocacy strategy that DBI is implementing in the last year, in order to strengthen the visibility of Salesian actions in Europe and beyond within the European institutions.

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Michael Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, Virginia, and President of the Pro-Life Commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, commented on the Vice-President’s visit and said she could have taken advantage of the opportunity to visit an organization or agency “at the service of life.” Bishop Burbidge added: “It worries me to know that the Vice-President is visiting an abortion clinic when there are so many agencies and organization that are at the service of life that she could visit.” And he pointed out — in line with other Bishops of Minnesota –, his concern for the “violence sanctioned by the State against a whole class of human beings,” manifested in the promotion of abortion.

On February 20, 2023, Minnesota’s legislation approved the right to abortion in its Constitution, made available during the whole of a woman’s pregnancy, making the State a refuge for all abortion providers of women from other areas.

Maggee Hangge, associate of policies of the Catholic Conference in Minnesota, said that “Vice-President Harris is here to celebrate that Minnesota is one of the most permissive places for abortion in any part of he world. This open access to abortion, without protections, undermines the objective to foment an inclusive society and is not in contact with the opinions of the majority of Minnesota’s inhabitants on the subject.”

It is notorious that two surveys carried out by Minnesota’s KSTP’ Survey USA and Star Tribune/MPR News/Kare 11, showed that only 30% of the State’s residents are in favour of unrestricted abortions.

Kamala Harris toured the clinic’s facilities with the State’s Governor, Tim Walz, and Dr Sarah Traxler, Medical Directress of Planned Parenthood North Central States. The Vice-President said:”At this moment, our country is facing a very serious health crisis and the crisis is affecting many, many people in our country, the majority of whom are frankly suffering in silence, after the Supreme Court of the United States took away the Constitutional right that it had recognized of the people of America, of the women of America,” as reported by The Epoch Times in Spanish.

Cathy Blaeser, Co-Executive Directress of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said in a press release: “The Vice-President’s visit shows total devotion of the Biden Administration for extreme abortion policies. Minnesota is an atypical case after promulgating  a law on abortion up to birth, and the abolishment of a program that supported pregnant women. That’s why Vice-President Harris came here. However, unrestricted abortion harms women and children. The majority of Minnesota’s residents don’t want what Harris, Biden and lawmakers are selling.”

Given Minnesota’s permissive legislation, the Catholic Bishops promulgated a letter to lawmakers on February 23, 2023, stating: “We cannot permit violence sanctioned by the State against a whole class of human beings. At least, we should all be in agreement that post-availability abortions, except to save the mother’s life, must not be permitted, that contributors must not be obliged to finance more abortions than those already exacted by the courts and that medical professionals must not be punished for refusing to take part in abortions.”

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