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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

04.06.2007, [16:15] // UGCC // RISU.ORG.UA

Vatican – On 1 June 2007, Pope Benedict XVI blessed the appointment of Fr. Kenneth Nowakowski, rector of the Ukrainian Catholic Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Ottawa, as bishop of New Westminster, Canada.

Highlights of Fr. Nowakowski’s biography:

1991-2: vice-rector of Holy Spirit Seminary in Rudno, near western Ukrainian Lviv

2001: head of the Press Service of the Catholic Churches in Ukraine for the preparation of Pope John Paul II’s visit of to Ukraine

Since November 2001, rector of Holy Spirit Seminary in Ottawa

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Mosul, Jun. 4, 2007 (CWNews.com) - A Chaldean Catholic priest and three deacons were gunned down in Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday, the AsiaNews service reports.

Father Ragheed Ganni and three deacons from his parish-- Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, Gassan Isam Bidawed-- were killed after celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy on Sunday.

As they left the church, the clerics’ car was stopped by a group of armed gunmen, who shot all 4 men and then rigged their car with explosives so that no one would dare remove their bodies. The car with the four murdered me remained in the city street, bearing witness to the killings, for several hours until a police bomb-squad defused the devices.

The parish where they served, the Church of the Holy Spirit, had been bombed and vandalized in the past, and Father Ganni had been threatened by Islamic militants, AsiaNews reports. The three deacons had been accompanying the priest constantly, hoping to protect him.

Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly referred to the attack as “a crime against God.”

In a related story, AsiaNews reported that on May 31, terrorists attacked the convent of the Chaldean-rite Sacred Heart sisters in Baghdad, Iraq. The Archangel Raphael convent is home to two Sacred Heart sisters.

Christians in Iraq have been the objects of a nationwide campaign of intimidation, forcing tens of thousands of members of the Christian minority to leave Iraq for safety in neighboring lands.

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

"All Will Clearly See the Atypical Character of Pontifical Diplomacy"

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's Saturday address to the superiors and alumni of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

* * *

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Superiors and Priests,

Welcome to you who form the family of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy! I listened with attention and gratitude to the address that your president made to me in your name and I thank him from my heart. His words of congratulations for the book "Jesus of Nazareth," fruit of my personal search for the face of Christ, show that the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy rightly considers the ardent desire to know the Lord more and more a fundamental value for those who, like you, are called in diplomatic service to a special collaboration with the successor of Peter. In effect, dear alumni, the more you seek the face of Christ the better you will be able to serve the Church and people -- Christians and non-Christians -- whom you will meet along the way as pontifical representatives throughout the world.

When, like today, I have the happy opportunity to meet you, I think of your future service to the Church. I think also of your bishops, who have sent you to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to help the Pope in his universal mission for the particular Churches and for the various civil jurisdictions with whom the Holy See has a relationship. The service for which you are destined and for which you prepare here in Rome, is the service of qualified witness to the Churches and the authorities of the countries to which, if it pleases God, you will be sent.

The witness to the Gospel is asked to be faithful in every circumstance to the mission with which he has been entrusted. For you this means, in the first place, a personal and profound experience of the incarnate God, an intimate friendship with Jesus, in whose name the Church sends you for a singular apostolic task. You know that the Christian faith can never be reduced to a mere intellectual knowledge of Christ and his doctrine; it must always express itself in the imitation of the examples that Christ gave us as Son of the Father and Son of man. In particular, he who collaborates with the Successor of Peter, Supreme Shepherd of the Catholic Church, is called to do his best to be a true shepherd, ready, as Jesus the Good Shepherd, to give his life for his flock.

I was very grateful therefore for the aspiration that animates you and that you have expressed through your president, that is, to be fundamentally shepherds; always shepherds alongside the other shepherds of the Church, before also being -- along with the pontifical representatives with whom you will work -- promoters and weavers of fruitful relationships with civil authorities, as the particular Catholic tradition wishes. Cultivate this, your ardent desire, so that those who draw near to you will always be able to discover the priest that is in you. In this way, all will clearly see the atypical character of pontifical diplomacy, a diplomacy that, as the numerous accredited diplomatic missions to the Apostolic See can testify, far from defending material interests or partial visions of man, promotes the values that flow from the Gospel, as the expression of the high ideals proclaimed by Jesus, sole and universal Savior. These values, after all, are in no small part a patrimony also shared by other religions and other cultures.

Dear friends, even when you leave the academy -- more than a dozen of you are preparing to do so in the following weeks -- continue to cultivate an intimate and personal friendship with Jesus, seeking more and more to know and assimilate the thoughts and sentiments that were his (Philippians 2:5). The more deeply you know him, the more strongly will you be united to him and the more faithful you will be to your priestly commitments, all the more and better will you be able to serve people, the more fruitful will be your dialogue with them, the more accessible will appear the peace that you will propose in situations of tension and conflict, the more consoling will be the comfort that, in the name of Christ and his Church, you offer to those persons who undergo trial and are without defense. In this way the convergence between your mission and the evangelization proposed by those with pastoral responsibilities will appear with greater clarity to the eyes of the world.

Dear brothers, as I entrust these brief reflections to your attention, I am happy to renew my wish of every good to you and your families. With my whole heart I assure you a remembrance in my prayer and, invoking the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, with pleasure I bless you, those who have care of your formation, and all your loved ones.

[Translation by ZENIT]

Code: ZE07060421

Date: 2007-06-04

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"The Truth of the Gospel Sheds Light on the Human Situation"

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the discourse Benedict XVI gave on Friday to Estonia's new ambassador to the Holy See, Juri Seilenthal.

* * *

Mr Ambassador,

I am very pleased to welcome you to the Vatican and to accept the Letters of Credence by which you are appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Estonia to the Holy See. I thank you for the cordial greetings which you have brought to me from President Ilves and I ask you kindly to convey to him my own respectful greetings, together with my prayerful good wishes for the prosperity and well-being of the Estonian people.

In recent years, while carrying forward the demanding task of social and economic reform at home, Estonia has also sought to strengthen its bonds with Europe and the international community. Your nation's membership in the European Union represents, as Your Excellency has pointed out, not only a resumption of ties stretching back over the centuries, but also the reaffirmation of a great political and spiritual heritage which has shaped the soul of your nation. Europe today, caught up in the process of rapid transformation, has made significant progress in building a common home marked by solid economic growth, the development of new models of unity that are respectful of differences, and a dedication to cooperation in the cause of justice and peace. Estonia has much to contribute to the Europe of tomorrow, thanks in no small part to her hard-won realization of the value of freedom and the sacrifices which freedom entails.

The great revolution which swept Eastern Europe in the final decade of the last century testified, in fact, to the innate and irrepressible yearning for freedom present within individuals and peoples, as well as the inseparability of authentic freedom from the pursuit of truth, respect for the transcendent dignity of each human person, and a commitment to mutual respect and solidarity. These values, a precious legacy of Estonia's millennial history, must be constantly reappropriated and given practical expression in every sphere of political and social life, in the conviction that they can ensure the breadth of vision and awaken the spiritual energies necessary for creating a future of hope. In recent years your nation has experienced at first hand the daunting challenge of fashioning a society which is genuinely free yet at the same time faithful to its defining traditions. Europe needs this witness, which will surely help the Continent as a whole to "recognize and reclaim with creative fidelity" its fundamental values, values which were decisively shaped by the Christian message (cf. Ecclesia in Europa, 109) and constitute an inalienable element of its true identity.

I am grateful for Your Excellency's kind words about the Church in Estonia, and I assure you that the nation's Catholics desire to play their part, in a spirit of respectful cooperation with other Christian believers, in the life of the nation. The Church proposes her teaching in the conviction that the truth of the Gospel sheds light on the reality of the human situation and provides the wisdom needed for individuals and communities to discern and embrace the demands of the moral law which provide the necessary and enduring foundation for just and harmonious relations within society. In a special way, the Church is committed to the promotion of the sanctity of marriage, the basic role and mission of the family, the education of children and respect for God's gift of life from conception to natural death. Since the health of any society depends in no small measure on the health of its families (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 29), I trust that this witness will contribute to the consolidation of family and community life and, together with wise and far-sighted social policies, will help to revitalize Estonia's long history of strong and united families. For it is in the family, above all, that the young are trained in goodness, generosity, forgiveness and fraternal concern for others, and given a sense of personal responsibility for building a world of freedom, solidarity and hope.

With these sentiments, Mr Ambassador, I offer my prayerful wishes for the work you now undertake in the service of your nation, and I assure you of the constant readiness of the offices of the Holy See to assist you in the fulfilment of your duties. Upon you and your family, and upon all the beloved Estonian people, I cordially invoke God's blessings of joy and peace.

[Original text in English]

© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Code: ZE07060420

Date: 2007-06-04

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Christian Converts Put to the Test

By Father John Flynn

ROME, JUNE 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- If you live in a predominantly Muslim country and want to convert to Christianity, chances are your faith will be put to the test. The latest example of troubles Christian converts face comes from Malaysia, where last week the country's highest civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, the Associated Press reported May 30.

Lina Joy, born Azlina Jailani, had applied to change both her name and religion on the government identity card all citizens carry. The name change was not a problem, but authorities refused to delete the Muslim identification from the card. According to the Associated Press, about 60% of Malaysia's 26 million people are Muslims.

A May 26 report by the Associated Press recounted that Joy began going to church in 1990 and was baptized eight years later. She went to the Federal Court in May 2000 in order to oblige government authorities to change the religious designation on her identity card, but the tribunal ordered her to take the matter to Shariah courts. Joy's next step was to take the matter to the Court of Appeal, but she also lost her case in that tribunal.

Joy appealed the case before the Federal Court in 2005. The arguments ended in July 2006, with the decision denying her appeal handed down last week.

In the meantime, the Associated Press reported that Joy has been disowned by her family and forced to quit her computer sales job after clients threatened to withdraw their business.

The three judges of the Federal Court ruled 2-1 against her. Only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card, the decision stated.

The wording of the decision showed the difficulties involved in obtaining freedom for religious converts. "You can't at whim and fancy convert from one religion to another," said Federal Court Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim in his judgment, Reuters reported May 30.

"The issue of apostasy is related to Islamic law, so it's under the Shariah court," he stated.

According to Reuters, the country's Shariah courts generally do not allow Muslims to formally renounce Islam, preferring to send what they consider to be apostates for counseling. They even fine or jail them.

Fundamental right denied

Shortly after the court's decision, Joy announced that she may leave Malaysia for not being able to freely practice her religion, the Associated Press reported May 31. "I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons: namely, the right to believe in the religion of one's choice," Joy declared in a statement released through her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson.

Joy is not alone in her problems. Last year BBC radio broadcast a report on the problems faced by Christian converts in Malaysia. According to a report on the program published by the BBC last Nov. 15, many converts are obliged to lead a secret, double life.

"If people know that I've converted to Christianity, they might take the law into their own hands. If they are not broadminded, they might take a stone and throw it at me," said Maria, one of the converts interviewed by the BBC.

Maria's case was so sensitive that the priest who baptized her refused to give her a baptismal certificate. Maria has concealed her conversion from her family for fear of the negative reaction it would provoke.

Further problems were reported last Dec. 6 by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in Australia. A Malaysian hospital refused to hand over a dead man's body to his widow because she planned to give her husband, a Muslim who converted to Christianity, a burial in accordance with his new religion.

The widow, 69-year-old Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, complained to the police of harassment by Islamic religious authorities regarding the matter of the burial of her 71-year-old husband, Rayappan Anthony.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this was the second time in about a year that a non-Muslim has fought for funeral rights over a family member. In the first, Islamic officials gave a former soldier a Muslim burial against the wishes of his Hindu widow.

A similar case was the subject of a report April 19 by the South China Morning Post newspaper. Kaliammal Sinnasamy, a Hindu woman, saw her husband's body taken from her by Islamic authorities and buried as a Muslim in December 2005.

Her husband, Moorthy Maniam, was a Hindu, his widow declared. Her attempts before Malaysia's courts to impede the Islamic burial of her husband came to nothing, when the tribunal ruled that it had no jurisdiction to hear any matter involving Islam, even if one party is a non-Muslim. Sinnasamy has appealed the decision.

Problems abound

Malaysia is far from the only country where Christians face considerable difficulties. Last year the case of Abdul Rahman, a convert in Afghanistan who risked a death sentence for converting to Christianity, received widespread coverage.

Rahman had lived in Germany for some years, but after returning home was arrested in February 2006, explained a report on the case published the following March 23 by the Washington Post. Rahman was freed and escaped prosecution after authorities declared him to be mentally unfit for trial, reported the BBC on March 29. He was, however, forced to flee Afghanistan, and was given refuge in Italy.

Meanwhile, Somalia prohibits all conversions, reported the Catholic Information Service for Africa last Sept. 21. After the fall of the government in 1991, Somalia fell into chaos. A transitional government was established in October 2004. This government later adopted a Transitional Federal Charter, which established Islam as the national religion.

Another African government, Morocco, recently jailed a tourist for six months for the crime of attempting to convert Muslims, reported Reuters last Nov. 29.

A German of Egyptian origin, Sadek Noshi Yassa, was arrested as he was distributing books and CDs about the Christian faith to young Muslim Moroccans in the street, officials said. A court in Agadir found the 64-year-old man guilty of trying to "shake the faith of a Muslim."

Religious violence

Apart from problems related to conversion, life for Christians in many Islamic countries is difficult, to say the least. On May 3 the Guardian newspaper in Britain reported on the situation in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

Militants from a group founded by radical Islamic students recently went on a killing rampage, which left 10 dead. According to the Guardian, the episode sent a new wave of fear through Kano's minority Christian community. The region has suffered religious violence that has caused tens of thousands of deaths in recent years.

Another problematic country is Pakistan, where Christians were recently warned to convert, or face violence, reported the Associated Press on May 16. About 500 Pakistani Christians in Charsadda, a town in the North-West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, received letters in early May telling them to close their churches and convert.

Easter is also another touchy issue. In fact, Easter is illegal in Saudi Arabia, explained a report by the Associated Press on April 9. The kingdom allows only the Muslim feasts of al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and al-Adha, which concludes the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

As well, the article reported that the crown prince, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, has stressed that the kingdom would never allow churches to be built. More than ever, Christians living in Islamic countries are in need of prayers.

Code: ZE07060429

Date: 2007-06-04

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VATICAN CITY, JUNE 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says the waiting is nearly over for the much-discussed papal document that will reportedly liberalize the use of the Tridentine Mass.

The Vatican secretary of state said this in an interview with the Catholic newspaper Avvenire on Sunday.

"I believe that we will not have to wait much longer for its publication," Cardinal Bertone said. "The Pope is personally interested in seeing this happen. He will explain it in an accompanying letter, hoping for a serene reception."

Code: ZE07060403

Date: 2007-06-04