Latest news with #CatholicBishops
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Catholic bishops from Asia, Africa, Latin America demand climate justice
Catholic bishops from Asia, Africa and Latin America demanded climate justice for the parts of the world most affected by rising temperatures and rejected what they said were the 'false solutions' promoted by wealthy countries. As a heat wave hits much of Europe, including the Vatican, the continental bishops conferences of the Global South penned a first-ever joint ecological appeal ahead of the next U.N. climate conference in November in Belem, Brazil. In the document, they echoed the frequent environmental appeals by Pope Francis during his 12-year pontificate, but in a language that was far less diplomatic and far more urgent. They blasted the 'openly denialist and apathetic stance' of 'so-called elites of power' in the industrialized world who pressure their governments to back off sufficient mitigation and adaptation measures. The proposals merely perpetuate the exploitation of God's creation and its most vulnerable people, when what is really needed is the complete abandonment of fossil fuels and a new economic model that values the common good, the bishops said. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo, said the document isn't just an analysis, 'but a cry of dignity.' 'We, the pastors of the South, demand climate justice as a human and spiritual right,' he told a Vatican news conference in prepared remarks. The document said it was 'seriously contradictory' to use profits from oil extraction to finance green energy transition, saying carbon markets and mining for clean technologies were 'false solutions.' This 'green economy' really serves as an 'ecological restructuring of capitalism' that just concentrates power again in corporations and regulatory systems, they said. Francis made caring for the environment a hallmark of his pontificate and penned a landmark encyclical that has spawned global movements to care for the planet. Pope Leo XIV has indicated he is following in Francis' footsteps, visiting the future site of a huge Vatican solar panel project and planning to spend the summer at the papal retreat outside Rome that Francis turned into an environmental center. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Climate
- Washington Post
Catholic bishops from Asia, Africa, Latin America demand climate justice
VATICAN CITY — Catholic bishops from Asia, Africa and Latin America demanded climate justice for the parts of the world most affected by rising temperatures and rejected what they said were the 'false solutions' promoted by wealthy countries. As a heat wave hits much of Europe , including the Vatican, the continental bishops conferences of the Global South penned a first-ever joint ecological appeal ahead of the next U.N. climate conference in November in Belem, Brazil.
LBCI
26-06-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Pope Leo laments 'diabolical intensity' of Middle East conflicts
Pope Leo said on Thursday that conflicts in the Middle East were raging with an unprecedented "diabolical intensity" and appealed for greater respect for international law, in comments to Catholic bishops and aid agencies operating in the region. At a meeting in the Vatican, the pontiff said countries in the region were being "devastated by wars, plundered by special interests, and covered by a cloud of hatred that renders the air unbreathable and toxic." "Today, violent conflict seems to be raging... with a diabolical intensity previously unknown," he said, adding that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza was "tragic and inhumane."
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I hope this is the last piece I ever have to write about assisted dying
MPs, read this horror before you vote today. Here's how some people are slowly dying, right now, in mortal agony untreatable by the best palliative care: 'Some will retch at the stench of their own body rotting. Some will vomit their own faeces. Some will suffocate, slowly, inexorably, over several days.' An average of 17 people a day are dying these bad deaths, according to 2019 figures, as reported by palliative care professionals who see it happen. The Inescapable Truth, a report from Dignity in Dying, revealed what is usually kept hidden from us: the shocking last months for the unluckiest. It could happen to you or me. The assisted dying bill's final Commons vote today is no abstract debate about slippery slopes or what God wants: to do nothing is to inflict torture on many. The vote may be tight: unwhipped private members' bills rely on MPs turning up. At second reading, 330 were in favour, 275 against. After 100 hours of detailed scrutiny and many strict amendments, more than 40 MPs switched both ways. No longer a judge, but an expert panel with a lawyer, social worker and psychiatrist will examine each application. Compromises include a four-year wait after royal assent for the service to be set up. An ITV News vote tracker expects 154 MPs to vote for it, 144 against, 22 undecided and 21 abstainers. Opponents are wheeling out their last-gasp tactics. Catholic bishops this week warned that the future of care homes and hospices will be put into 'grave doubt' by the legislation: 'Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, to withdraw from the provision of such care.' Disingenuous is a polite word – under the bill, health and social care workers can refuse involvement in the assisted dying process. God moves in such mysterious ways that some of his followers hide his involvement, without publicly revealing their religious reasons for opposing. The campaign group Our Duty of Care doesn't mention God on its website – nor the fact it shares an office with and is financed by evangelical groups. Membership of Care Not Killing, which runs the Our Duty of Care campaign, is largely religious. Only God ordains the time of our entrances and exits. The mystery is its secretiveness. Presumably that's because his word cuts very little mustard in a country where 53% have no religion. Others of the faith avoid mentioning him, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg on GB News, accusing Labour of 'a cult of death', with Labour MPs 'voting to finish off the elderly' in the week of the 'terrible vote from the House of Commons to allow infanticide of babies in the womb', after the Commons decriminalised women ending their pregnancies. Cult of death? That sounds more applicable to those willing to let others die in painful agony. But not all opponents are religious. One of the oddest is the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych). Although the bill requires patients to be mentally competent to request assisted dying, among other objections the RCPsych reminds MPs that 'terminal illness is a risk factor for suicide'. That's the point – a time when suicide might be quite rational. Offering psychiatry instead of an easeful potion could be greeted with expletives from those in agony. Disability groups have been persuasive, fearing they may be pushed towards shortening their lives, always at risk of being treated as inconvenient. But polling of those with disabilities shows 78% in favour assisted dying, in line with the rest of the population. Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man have moved ahead of England on this, and France just joined the many countries in legalising the right to die. Hundreds travel to Dignitas in Switzerland: 52% of Brits say they would consider this grim and lonely death, but few can afford the £15,000. About 650 suicides of the dying are recorded; there may be more of these lonely, unassisted deaths. If I sound intemperate, it's the memory of my mother's prolonged painful death: she thought her good GP would ease her way out but, post-Shipman, he couldn't. No, as some hope, morphine is not a kindly drug wafting you away – it can't remove all pain. Enough people have witnessed bad deaths that public opinion is strongly behind the right to die. Opponents warn people may be pushed into a faster death because they are a perceived burden on their family. To avoid inflicting suffering on those around you seems to me a good reason for not leaving a miserable memory of your final months. Knowing it's an option, even if never used, will comfort many given a terminal diagnosis. What if, opponents keep warning, someone is pressed into it? Everything is a balance of risks: set the absolute certainty of some horrible deaths against the possibility that a dying person may lose a few months of life. Which is worse? As Labour reaches one year in office, this vote should join this week's abortion decriminalisation as another milestone in the long history of personal freedoms that is always the party's legacy. While Harold Wilson never personally backed Roy Jenkins's long list of radical reforms, Keir Starmer has vociferously supported both bills. If it passes, it goes to the Lords, where 26 bishops will do their damnedest to stop it, reminding us why they should be removed along with the hereditaries. I have written often over many years on the right to die when we choose. I hope I never need to again. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
‘Humanity has lost its heart': Ireland's churches react forcefully to `abandoned' Gaza
Ireland's two main churches have reacted forcefully to the continuing suffering of the people of Gaza and have demanded action to end it. 'It appears that humanity has lost its heart,' the Catholic bishops have said. 'From all over Ireland, parishioners are reporting their horror and helplessness on seeing images of death and communal destruction in Gaza,' they said. In a joint statement, the two Church of Ireland archbishops said: 'It is with outrage that we watch the desperation, dislocation, and defenceless resident population of Gaza who feel they have been abandoned by the world.' Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell and Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough Michael Jackson said 'the international community must grasp reality and respond as never before. They can no longer stand by and watch the cruel starvation of innocent people.' READ MORE The Catholic bishops' statement noted how in Gaza, 'exhausted mothers can no longer nourish their young, children are dying of malnutrition, while aid lorries full of supplies are being refused entry into the territory, or are not safely arriving at their destination'. They said that 'to see the relentless bombardment of civilian areas, the deliberate withholding of food from the starving, as well as the callous holding of hostages, it appears that humanity has lost its heart'. The Church of Ireland archbishops said the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, owned and run by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, has reopened after being bombed on Palm Sunday. Its 'resilient' and 'courageous staff' are now 'operating in a tent' and 'treating the injured and sick as best they can, in what is by anyone's reckoning a living wasteland'. They pledged 'our continuing support' for them. [ Destruction of Gaza hospital supported by Dublin diocese 'an outrage', says senior Irish cleric Opens in new window ] The Catholic bishops called 'on all Catholics' to make the first Friday, June 6th, a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with people in the Holy Land. They invited everyone to pray throughout June 'for the renewal of heart that our world so desperately needs'. Archbishops McDowell and Jackson called for an 'immediate ceasefire' in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and the 'influx of every kind of appropriate aid to alleviate starvation, injury and lack of shelter'. They acknowledged many 'feel hopeless and powerless to change what is happening in Gaza'. 'We pray that all those in positions of power globally will stand up and demand an end to this cruelty and seek the reinstitution of international law.'
