News

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2015

CWN - Two groups competing for leadership of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine are in open conflict over the government’s battle with separatists, the AsiaNews service reports.

Patriarch Filaret, who heads the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Kiev Patriarchate, has called upon Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to “defend the homeland,” continuing to battle separatist forces. Patriarch Filaret said that defending Ukrainian territory is “the duty of every Christian.”

That statement drew a rebuke from the rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, which said that Church leaders should promote peace, not warfare. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate observed that Pope Francis has called for peace, as has Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill. “Filaret is the only one in favor of war,” he said.

Patriarch Filaret was the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church until the country regained its independence from the Soviet Union. He then broke off his relations with the Moscow patriarchate to form the separate Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate remains loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly supported Russian policy in Ukraine.

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2015

CWN - In an interview with La Stampa’s Vatican Insider and in a post on his blog, Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, the apostolic nuncio in Ukraine, appealed for aid to Ukraine and lamented Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

He wrote:

Truth to be told, powerless as we are, the diplomatic part is easy for the Holy See and we are out there on all three points: 1) respect for a sovereign nation's territorial integrity is fundamental to international law and Russian annexation of Crimea is a gross violation of this body of customary law governing relations among states; 2) the chaos reigning in Donbas does not free Russia for its obligation to peacemaking: borders should be closed without delay to stop the flow of combatants and arms enabling Ukraine to establish order on its territory; 3) humanitarian aid is desperately needed by Ukraine, which should coordinate any flow of aid with the help of international agencies like the Red Cross.

Speaking that truth does not accomplish it, but perhaps the Holy See still possesses some moral authority, such that other nations would be encouraged to seek a lasting peace for Ukraine and the world in adherence to the truth and in justice.

Archbishop Gullickson also responded to recent criticism of Vatican diplomacy by Myroslav Marynovych, a human rights activist and vice rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

Details

Last Updated: 18 February 2015

CWN - Iraq's ambassador to the UN has charged that leaders of the Islamic State (ISIS) are harvesting human organs as a source of revenue.

Mohamed Alhakim told the Security Council that in mass graves of ISIS victims, corpses have been found with surgical incisions and missing vital organs. He reported that doctors have been executed by ISIS for refusing to remove human organs.

Details

Last Updated: 18 February 2015

CWN - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has asked Muslims to join Christians in fasting during Lent, and to unite in prayer for peace in Iraq.

In his Lenten message, sent to the Fides news service, the Chaldean Patriarch said that Lent is “a propitious time for repentance, conversion and reconciliation, with self, with the Lord, and with others.” He encouraged all Iraqis, regardless of faith, to “work to strengthen our unity in diversity, rather than pursue sectarianism.”

Details

Last Updated: 18 February 2015

CWN - The Coptic Christians who were slaughtered by the Islamic State died with the name of Jesus on their lips, an Egyptian Catholic bishop told the Fides news service.

Bishop Anba Antonios Aziz Mina, who heads the Coptic Catholic diocese of Giuzeh, said that a videotape of the mass execution clearly showed several men saying, “Lord, Jesus Christ!”

“The name of Jesus was their last word,” Bishop Mina said. “This was how they celebrated their victory, a victory of which no executioner could ever rob them. With that name, whispered at the very last, their martyrdom was sealed.”

The Egyptian bishop observed that the videotape of the beheadings was obviously “staged to spread terror.” But despite the horror, it confirmed the witness of the martyrs, he observed.

Bishop Mina reported that the Egyptian government has announced plans for the construction of a new Coptic Orthodox church, dedicated to the martyrs, in Minya, the city from which most of the victims hailed.

Details

Last Updated: 18 February 2015

CWN - Pope Francis renewed his appeal for peace in Ukraine, and added a prayer for Libya, at the close of his regular weekly audience on February 18.

The Pope asked the faithful to pray for “our Egyptian brothers who were killed in Libya three days ago for the mere fact of being Christians.” Then, after broadening his focus to include the many refugees in the Middle East, he called for “the intervention of the international community to work to find peaceful solutions to the crisis in Libya.”

Pope Francis then recognized the Ukrainian Catholic bishops who are in Rome for their ad limina visits this week, and said that he was united with them in prayer for a lasting peace in their native country.