CNA Daily News - Middle East - Africa

New cloister for Benedictine monks dedicated in Holy Land

Thu, 24 May 2012 02:23:00 -0600

Nazareth, Israel, May 24, 2012 / 02:23 am (CNA).- High-ranking Catholic churchmen dedicated a new cloister on May 17 at a Benedictine monastery built at the site where Jesus miraculously multiplied loaves and fishes.

At the dedication, the retired Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah said the monastery is "a new witness of the presence of God in the life of this land, a new spiritual actor in the life of this land, a new spiritual companion of all the inhabitants of this land, Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druzes, all of us in search of God, as we are in search of peace."

Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, France and the apostolic nuncio to Israel Archbishop Antonio Franco participated in the event with several other bishops, including the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Nazareth.

Patriarch Sabbah represented his successor, Patriarch Fouad Twal.

Before the dedication, Cardinal Meisner celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the Monastery Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee.

Six monks from the Benedictine Priory of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, which has been based in Tabgha since 1939, will use the new cloister.

The monastery was rebuilt because the old building from the 1950s was built without foundations. It was dilapidated and in danger of collapse in a region where earthquakes are common.

Cardinal Meisner is president of the German Union of the Holy Land, the builder and owner of the monastery site.

He told Aid to the Church in Need that the monks are "the men of Galilee who look up to Heaven, just as at the Ascension of the Lord.

"That is their service. Thus they help us to ensure that Heaven is not forgotten."

Because summer temperatures in the area can reach 122 degrees, Aid to the Church in Need provided $63,850 to build a small air-conditioned summer oratory inside the cloister for monks to escape the heat and the noise of visitors.

Patriarch Sabbah said that a monastery that prays is a "vital necessity" everywhere, but particularly in the Holy Land where "God manifested himself."

The residents of the Holy Land are "still living in a long painful conflict situation that needs reconciliation with God and among themselves," he continued.

"Here the land needs to know and to see the real human being, created by God on His image, capable of love as God loves, in order to find the ways of peace and of a real human peaceful life."

Pope's appeal even 'more pressing' after deadly Syrian blast

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:59:00 -0600

Damascus, Syria, May 11, 2012 / 12:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Syrian rebels and officials were urged to heed Pope Benedict XVI's call for peace and dialogue, after two suicide bombings killed 55 people in Damascus on May 10.

“The appeal made by the Holy Father on Easter Day is now more pressing than ever,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi announced in a May 11 statement. “It is necessary without delay to make an immediate commitment to the path of respect, dialogue and reconciliation.”

“We cannot but express our strong condemnation and the heartfelt closeness of the Holy Father and the Catholic community to the families of the victims,” said the priest and director of the Holy See Press Office, reacting to the explosions that “brought carnage to the streets of Damascus.”

“These attacks should encourage all sides to boost and strengthen their commitment to implementing the Annan Peace Plan, which has been accepted by all sides in the conflict,” Fr. Lombardi stated.

He said the attacks “also show that the situation in Syria requires a firm and joint commitment on the part of the entire international community to implement that plan and, as soon as possible, to send further observers.”

More than 370 people were wounded by the two suicide car bombs, which went off near a military intelligence building on Thursday morning. The first vehicle was detonated on a highway during the capital's morning rush hour, drawing a crowd that was soon struck by the second and larger bomb.

Response within the country followed a now-predictable pattern, with officials of the Assad government blaming the terrorist groups it says are behind the Syrian uprising. Meanwhile, some opposition figures put blame on the regime, saying it engineered the attacks to discredit them.

U.N. Special Envoy Kofi Annan, tasked with implementing a peace plan for the country, said none of the parties in Syria's year-long conflict would accomplish their goals by terrorizing the other side.

“Any action that serves to escalate tensions and raise the level of violence can only be counter-productive to the interests of all parties,” Annan said in statement released on the day of the bombings.

“These abhorrent acts are unacceptable and the violence in Syria must stop,” Annan declared, saying the Syrian people “have already suffered too much.”

Catholic Middle East expert believes Arab Spring is 'no more'

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:33:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, May 8, 2012 / 05:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- One of the Catholic Church’s leading experts on the Middle East says the Arab Spring is “no more.”

“It was in the beginning a ‘springtime’ because really it was a free movement, (an) independent, unorganized movement for freedom,” Father Samir Khalil Samir told CNA.

But the movement slowly became “organized by other groups, especially by Islamic groups, in Egypt, also in Libya, in Bahrain, so that now the situation is no more a spring,” he said.

Fr. Samir is an Egyptian Jesuit who teaches at Rome’s Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as in Beirut and Paris. Last year he cautiously welcomed the rise of the “Arab Spring,” a series of popular uprisings that dislodged several Middle Eastern dictators.

While some observers were hopeful that more democratic forms of government would take root in the wake of the protests, many countries instead saw Islamist movements rise to political prominence.

Fr. Samir said this has been particularly true in his homeland of Egypt, where the 30-year military dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year, and in other states such as Tunisia and Libya.

He described the situation in Libya since the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 as “not wonderful” due to “an Islamization after the secular system of Gaddafi.” He also believes that the present civil uprisings in Bahrain and Syria are being fueled by Islamist forces.

Fr. Samir said he still prays for “an open society for all people” in the Arab world but believes there are two road blocks – a lack of experience with democracy and a lack of education particularly for Arab women.

“We are aspiring to democracy but a problem is, if I take the case of Egypt for instance, which is not an exception, since 1952 and the Abdel Nasser revolution we don’t have a democracy,” he explained. Instead Egypt experienced having militant leaders – Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak – “so we don’t know what a democracy is and how to make it.”

He believes that democracy could develop in the region but that it may take another generation to achieve it.

The Egyptian Jesuit also thinks that education, especially for women, is a key factor in achieving a stable democratic society. He explained that it is Arab women who “build the family, not the fathers” and that females are also “those who are more for peace and not for war” which, he believes, gives them a greater affinity with minorities such as Christians.

“Unfortunately, some sentences of the Koran could support their suppression because it’s a document from the 7th century and there is no new reading of the Koran to reinterpret for today,” he said.

His advice to people in the West is to pray for the Arab world and to support education in the region through non-governmental organizations, which he says are traditionally less corrupt than Arab governments.

Pakistan among most dangerous countries for women, priest says

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:03:00 -0600

Islamabad, Pakistan, Apr 12, 2012 / 12:03 am (CNA).- A priest of the Camillian order in Pakistan has spoken out against the abuse of women in the country, including the growing number of “honor killings.”

According to Father Mushtaq Anjum, M.I., Pakistan “is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women, who often have no voice.”

“The country needs very strong measures which can cover all kinds of violence committed against women,” the priest told Fides news agency in a recent interview. “The rule of law should be there for them in order to protect them.”

The latest findings from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan show a continued rise in the killing of women by their husbands or male relatives.

During 2011 at least 943 Pakistani women were murdered for supposedly bringing disgrace on their families. In some cases the women were raped as a form of punishment before being killed.

Honor killings have significantly increased every year in Pakistan since at least 2008, when 574 women were murdered for this motive. The number rose to 647 in 2009, and again to 791 the following year.

In 2011 and 2012, Pakistan's parliament passed laws aimed at stopping abuses of women such as disfigurement with acid, forced marriage, and prevention of inheritance within families.

But widespread domestic violence is still tolerated, regarded as a private matter within the family and not as a crime. Violence against women also goes unpunished in many cases where it is committed by a male relative.

Many women, Fr. Anjum noted, can relate to the ordeal of Mukhtar Mai, who was raped by multiple perpetrators in 2002 in retaliation for the behavior of her brother.

While many Pakistani rape victims commit suicide, Mai instead spoke out on behalf of victims. In 2011, however, 5 of her 6 alleged rapists were acquitted by the country's Supreme Court.

Cardinal, former Syrian Patriarch, dies in Rome

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:12:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, Apr 9, 2012 / 05:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, the former patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church, died in Rome on April 7, the morning of Holy Saturday.

Pope Benedict XVI remembered the 81-year-old cardinal in prayer and praised him in a telegram to the current Syrian patriarch, Ignace Youssif II Younan.

“I wish to express to you my union in prayer with your Patriarchal Church, with the family of the deceased cardinal and with all those who are affected by this bereavement,” the Pope said.

The Pope prayed that God will welcome “this faithful pastor” into his joy and peace. He said the cardinal “dedicated himself with faith and generosity to the service of the People of God.”

In 2007, Cardinal Daoud retired as prefect emeritus of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Eastern Churches.

There are about 132,000 faithful in the Syrian Catholic Church, according to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. The largest populations of Syrian Catholics are in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Syrian violence drives 50,000 Christians from homes

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:04:00 -0600

Damascus, Syria, Mar 27, 2012 / 04:04 am (CNA).- Almost all Christians in the conflict-torn Syrian city of Homs have fled violence and persecution, amid reports that their homes have been attacked and seized by “fanatics” with links to al-Qaida.

With ninety percent of Christians having reportedly left their homes, the violence is driving fears that Syria could become a “second Iraq” with church attacks, kidnappings and forced expulsions of believers.

The exodus of 50,000 or more Christians has taken place largely in the past six weeks. It is part of al-Qaida-linked militant Islamic groups’ “ongoing ethnic cleansing” of Christians, according to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Homs has been home to one of Syria’s largest Christian populations and Church sources say that the faithful have borne the brunt of the violence. They have escaped to villages, many of which are in mountains 30 miles outside the city.

Islamists have allegedly gone from house to house in the Homs neighborhoods of Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan and have forced Christians to leave without giving them a chance to take their belongings.

The crisis in Homs has increased fears that Islamists are gaining influence in the region in the power vacuum left by the overthrow of other Arab governments in the “Arab Spring.”

The comparisons with Iraq are also ominous. Anti-Christian violence in Iraq has helped drive the Christian population from 1.4 million in the late 1980s to less than 300,000 today.

In both Syria and Iraq the Church is being targeted for its perceived close links with regimes under attack from opposition parties and rebel groups.

The uprising in Syria started in March 2011 with protests advocating political reform. The uprising has become increasingly militarized. More than 8,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the past year, U.N. figures say.

Many in the opposition are from the country’s Sunni majority, while religious minorities continue to back President Bashar al-Assad. The exiled Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has said it will not monopolize power in a new regime but will back a democratic state with equality for all citizens and respect for human rights.

On March 26, Syrian government forces shelled Homs and carried out arrest raids. A human rights group says that government forces appear to be preparing to retake rebel-held parts of the city, the Associated Press reported.

The government has accused insurgents of terrorism and international conspiracy, while the government itself faces accusations of torture and massacres of civilians.

The Christian community has suffered from terrorist attacks in other cities.

On March 18, a car bomb explosion targeted the Christian quarter of Aleppo, close to the Franciscan-run Church of St. Bonaventure. Aid to the Church in Need is helping families of the victims.

“The people we are helping are very afraid,” said Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, who is overseeing the aid program. “The Christians don’t know what their future will hold. They are afraid they will not get their homes back.”

The displaced people of Homs are desperate for food and shelter. Aid to the Church in Need has announced an urgent $100,000 aid package to relieve their needs.

Each family will receive $60 each month for basic food and lodging. Organizers of the assistance hope that they can return home by the summer.

Bishop Audo told Aid to the Church in Need that it is very important to help those in distress.

“Pray for us and let us work together to build peace in Syria,” he said.

Pope mourns passing of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox leader

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:13:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, Mar 19, 2012 / 12:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic leaders have offered their condolences on the death of Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, who died March 17 at age 88.

The Catholic Church, Pope Benedict said, “shares the grief that afflicts the Orthodox Copts,” and “stands in fervent prayer asking that he, who is the Resurrection and the Life, might welcome his faithful servant. May the God of all mercy receive Pope Shenouda in his joy, his peace and light.”

Born in August of 1923, Nazeer Gayed was honored as the 117th “Pope of Alexandria” by Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt and abroad. Although theological differences separated his church from Catholics and other Orthodox churches, Pope Shenouda himself was known as an ecumenical pioneer.

In his March 18 message to the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Benedict recalled the leader's “commitment to Christian unity,” shown in meetings with Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In 1973, Pope Shenouda and Pope Paul VI issued a declaration affirming key points of theological agreement.

Pope Benedict showed the same ecumenical warmth, as he mourned Pope Shenouda's “departure to God, our common Father,” and offered his “most sincere brotherly compassion” to the Coptic synod of bishops as well as their priests and faithful.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have come to Cairo's Cathedral of St. Mark to honor the late Pope of Alexandria and view his body, which was vested and placed on the episcopal throne he occupied for four decades. He will be buried at a northern Egyptian monastery following a March 20 funeral.

The loss of the Coptic Orthodox leader comes at a difficult time for Egyptian Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population. Concerns about their future have intensified following the country's 2011 revolution, which was billed as non-sectarian but has led to the rise of Islamist political parties.

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, mourned the loss of Pope Shenouda's leadership in his March 18 message.

The Coptic pope, he said, was “not only a religious leader for his church but also for all Christian churches,” particularly those of the Eastern traditions.

Patriarch Twal recalled how Pope Shenouda “continued his Christian mission in a firm confidence and a deep faith in the midst of a whirlwind of events that marked the Arab world.”

“We accompany with our prayers and send our condolences to his church and his beloved children, in recognition of all the great services to his church, his country and for all Christians in the Middle East. Grant him, O Lord, eternal rest, and may thy perpetual light shine on him.”

Intervention could tear Syria apart, Melkite patriarch warns

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:06:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, Mar 18, 2012 / 04:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Western military aid to Syrian rebels could prove disastrous for the country, according to the Damascus-based head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

“It is time now to have some accord,” Patriarch Gregorios III told CNA on March 15, “and not to arm the opposition, not to attack the regime.”

There is a window of opportunity, he said, to “call both sides” to negotiate and prevent a civil war. But if this opportunity passes, “it will be more difficult because the opposition will be united, maybe more armed, and then more blood. Then it is finished.”

“In order to avoid this very, very sorrowful, very dark end, let us go the way of concord, of dialogue.”

The Eastern Catholic leader spoke to CNA shortly after he met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, to discuss the Church's prospects in the midst of a conflict that is drawing worldwide attention.

That same day, the Patriarch confirmed that Pope Benedict would be visiting Lebanon from Sept. 14-16, with the possibility of a stop in Syria “if the situation improves.”

Syrian Christians and other religious minorities are concerned about what the future may hold, if the regime of President Bashar al-Assad collapses. The worst-case scenario is a power struggle between different Muslim groups, as has occurred in Iraq.

But Patriarch Gregorios believes there are alternatives to a sudden regime change that could plunge the country into chaos. He is also convinced that the Church can help the cause of peace in the “shaken Arab world” at large.

“I am very convinced that all Syrians can go on a new way together. It is my vision as a Christian. And my hope is that this vision can also be taken into consideration by my partners in Europe.”

In his own comments on the Syrian situation, Pope Benedict has favored a path of negotiation and dialogue between the regime and its opponents. Patriarch Gregorios said the Pope was “very attentive” to the vision he outlined, for Christians “to be instruments of peace in the Middle East.”

“Unless we come to a calm, we cannot have a real 'spring,'” said the patriarch. He wants to see the Arab world united and peaceful, not divided along the fault-lines of religious identity and political agendas.

During 2011, Patriarch Gregorios called on Western leaders not to support the revolutions taking place in several Arab countries. Instead, he urged them to back gradual reforms and changes, in order to avoid destabilizing complex and sometimes volatile situations.

In Thursday's interview, he stressed Western countries' duty to help Syria in a responsible and peaceful way. What is needed, he said, is not arms and incitement, but “dialogue, not only between Syrians and Syrians, but a call to dialogue in the Arab world, a call to unity in the Arab world.”

He also cautioned Western observers of the Syrian conflict against developing a distorted idea of what is happening in his country.

“We have much disinformation, misinformation and manipulation,” he noted. “In Damascus, I really live in peace, (with) schools, churches, businesses and so on. The suburbs are sometimes calm, sometimes not. And there are some times when it is very dangerous, other times when it is not.”

During the March 15 press conference at the Melkite headquarters in Rome, he indicated that some Western media outlets should scrutinize their sources more carefully.

“I have first-hand information,” he told reporters, contrasting this with “information from the television.”

“My best friend, a Maronite bishop named Paul Zayah, has a nephew who lives in Dubai. Walking in the street on his way to work, he hears behind him a person who picks up his cellphone and says, 'I'm in Homs now. I can see how the army of the regime is attacking the houses, women, mothers and children.'”

“That's 'news' from a 'primary source,' fresh from the town of 'Homs,' – but he was in Dubai,” the Melkite patriarch said. “And this goes on and on.”

Pope confirms September 2012 visit to Lebanon

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:56:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, Mar 16, 2012 / 01:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Rumors of a papal trip to Lebanon have been confirmed by the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, which will welcome Pope Benedict XVI at the start of his Sept. 14-16 visit.

“We came to him and now he's coming to us,” said Patriarch Gregorios III, a major participant in the 2010 synod of bishops that brought many Arab Church leaders to the Vatican. He confirmed recent talk of a papal visit during a March 15 press conference at the Melkite Catholics' headquarters in Rome.

The Pope “will come to support Christians so that they are united,” the patriarch said, according to Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper.

The Melkite Catholic leader will give a discourse in the Pope's presence on the afternoon of Sept. 14, at the Church of St. Paul at Harissa.

Patriarch Gregorios, who is based in the Syrian capital Damascus, said the Pope would be making the visit “for all of the Middle East.” Pope Benedict may even stop over in Syria “if the situation improves,” according to the Eastern Catholic patriarch.

Along with a “message of peace” for all people of the region, the Pope will deliver a document – known as the post-synodal apostolic exhortation – dealing more specifically with themes of the 2010 Synod for the Middle East.

That gathering gave top priority to the preservation of Middle Eastern Catholics and other Christians in their historic homelands. It took place only months before the Arab world erupted in a series of ongoing and often violent revolutions.

Concern over some Middle Eastern churches' survival has grown in the meantime, following the rise of political Islam in Egypt and the prospect of a civil war in Syria.

Lebanon, by contrast, is considered a model of stability and religious coexistence in the Middle East. The country's power-sharing system divides different offices of leadership between Muslim groups and Maronite Catholics, who are led by Patriarch Bechara Rai and make up 21 percent of the population.

The Pope was invited to Lebanon by its Sunni Muslim prime minister Najib Mikati, during his November 2011 visit to the Vatican.

First South African sainthood cause goes to Vatican

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:18:00 -0600

Tzaneen, South Africa, Mar 16, 2012 / 04:18 am (CNA).- The cause for beatification and canonization of the South African-native Benedict Daswa, who was killed for his refusal to support witchcraft, has arrived in Rome.

Bishop Joao Rodriguez of South Africa’s Tzaneen diocese said he hopes devotion to “this apostle of life” will spread and that people “will receive special graces” from Daswa's intercession, especially for “problematic family life relations and bondage to the occult and witchcraft.”

Although his cause is still being investigated, Bishop Rodriguez told CNA March 14 that Catholics may express private devotion to Daswa and report any favors received through his intercession to the Diocese of Tzaneen.

Daswa’s case was sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints after he was declared “Servant of God” and diocesan-level inquiries were completed.

If approved, Daswa would be on his way to being declared blessed, making him one step away from becoming the first South African-born saint.

Consistently loyal to his profession of Christianity, Daswa refused to take part in anything related to witchcraft or the occult, which is still very much a part of the local culture.

His denouncement of witchcraft and the occult eventually led to his violent murder in 1990.

Benedict Daswa, born Samuel Daswa in 1946, belonged to the Jewish Lemba tribe in rural Limpopo in South Africa.

Up until the start of the official investigation into Daswa's life in 2005, the members of the Catholic community of the Nweli District gathered every All Soul's Day to pray at his grave.

Daswa grew up observing Jewish customs, but was baptized in the Church at the age of 17. He took the name Benedict after the sixth-century monk and Benedict Risimati, his catechist who instructed him on his faith as a teen. Daswa was confirmed shortly after his baptism.

After his confirmation, Daswa took a particular interest in teaching younger members of his community about Catholicism.

After a series of unusual thunderstorms and lighting strikes in the area, a group of local men suggested hiring a traditional healer to determine the cause. In order to do this, the men collected money from members of the community.

Daswa refused to give any money to the cause. Seeing this act of defiance as derogatory to their cultural beliefs, members of his community conspired to kill him.

While driving home from a visit to his sick sister-in-law, some men blocked Daswa's way with several tree logs. When he got out of his car to investigate, Daswa was violently attacked and beaten to death by men from his own community.

According to the diocesan investigation, when Daswa saw a man coming towards him with a club to deliver the final blow, he said, “God, into your hands, receive my spirit.”

The Diocese of Tzaneen opened an inquiry into Daswa’s death in 2005 completed it on July 2, 2009. The investigation, which was made public in 2010, resulted in more than 850 pages of testimony from reliable witness to the life and death of Daswa.

A copy of the investigation was sent to Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The documents were signed by Bishop of Tzaneen Hugh Slattery, Sister Sally Duigan, diocesan chancellor Father Andre Bohas, and Promoter of Justice Eddie O’Neill.

As one the poorest and most rural dioceses in South Africa, the Tzaneen diocese is accepting donations through a special bank account dedicated to Daswa's cause for canonization.

A 40 minute biography was filmed on location in Limpopo to spread Daswa's story to an even greater audience.

South African bishops advise Red Bull fast for Lent

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:11:00 -0600

Johannesburg, South Africa, Mar 16, 2012 / 12:11 am (CNA).- The Church in South Africa is encouraging Catholics to boycott Red Bull energy drinks and donate the money saved to charitable organizations after the company aired a “Jesus Walks on Water” ad campaign.

“In the spirit of observing Lent,” Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, spokesman for the Southern African Bishops' Conference, suggested that Catholic consumers and business owners, “fast from displaying and consuming Red Bull until Easter” and donate the money that would have been spent on the energy drinks to local charities.

Red Bull quickly halted the South Africa television ad on March 14, just one day after it began to run. The company received numerous complaints from Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths.

The South African Bishops' Conference said they would like to see the ad totally pulled from the air, rather than just a pause in the ad campaign.

“While we welcome the halting of the campaign, we would ask that Red Bull … cancel it completely,” Cardinal Napier said in a March 13 statement.

In one evening, hundreds of people from many different faiths filed complaints with Red Bull and the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa.

“In a multi-faith country like South Africa, where over 70 percent of people profess to be people of faith, the use of faith-based symbols in a satirical, tongue-in-cheek manner, is guaranteed to cause a reaction,” the cardinal said.

The energy drink company issued an apology, saying that they try to focus on “well-known themes” in their advertizements. “It was never our intention to hurt anyone's feelings,” the company added.

Cardinal Napier suggested that the Red Bull marketing department should “make a serious effort to attend sensitivity training” to become more respectful of religious beliefs.

“People are more than consumers,” Cardinal Napier said, “and faith-based symbols are more than marketing opportunities.”

The ad mocks the Gospel account of Christ walking on water by depicting Jesus walking on water because he was bored with fishing. When he steps out of the boat, his disciples ask him if it's due to “another one of your miracles” or because he drank Red Bull, which “gives you wings.”

“It's no miracle, you just have to know where the stepping stones are,” Christ replies.

While walking away, the cartoon Christ slips and takes his own name in vain.

Many voiced their disapproval for the ad, including a reader whose comments were published on South Africa's News24.

He said that although Red Bull might be pleased with the free publicity the controversy has generated, it failed to accomplished anything.

“(Red Bull) blatantly made fun of the most passive aggressive religion on earth.”

All the energy drink makers succeeded in doing with this ad was to make Christians “aware of (Red Bull's) insensitivity to their belief system.”

Gospel Trail springs to life in the Holy Land

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:09:00 -0700

Nazareth, Israel, Mar 3, 2012 / 04:09 pm (CNA).- A new project launched by Jews and Christians in the Holy Land offers pilgrims the chance to walk the land of the Bible in the footsteps of Jesus and experience the places where he lived and ministered.

“This is a unique opportunity” to connect with “the beginning of Christianity,” project manager Amir Moran told CNA in Nazareth on Jan. 27.

The “Gospel Trail,” which has been open to the public since November of last year, follows historical paths that Jesus took when he left his childhood home of Nazareth and began his ministry around Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee.

“When you walk on these trails with these sites and these landscapes you feel just like” the disciples, Moran said, noting that the initiative officially launched at a Nov. 29 ceremony held by local Church leaders.

The project manager, who is Jewish, said the idea for the trail came to him about 10 years ago. Over the course of three treks along the Christian pilgrimage route the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), Moran felt even more of an impetus to create the trail.

“When I was in Spain,” he recalled, “I talked with the travelers, with many of them, and I asked 'what do you think about such a trail in the Holy Land'?”

Although Moran said the response was unanimously enthusiastic, he remembered most people questioning whether or not they would be safe.

In making the trail, “we put a lot of effort into making people feel comfortable,” he emphasized. “Generally, it's a very quiet area. There's no danger, there's no terrorism, it's not in the news.”

The trail includes over 35 miles of well-marked footpaths and roads that can be traveled by walking, driving or bicycling.

The primary route begins at Mount Precipice, mentioned in Luke 4:28-30, which recounts the people of Nazareth attempting to drive Christ off a cliff in response to his teachings. This route also winds through the Jezreel Valley, passes through the Beit Qeshet Oak Reserve, and skirts the cliffs of 1,000 ft.-tall cliffs of Arbel Mountain, before going by Magdala, Tabgha and Capernaum.

A secondary route includes Mount Tabor and the Church of the Transfiguration, the town of Cana, the extinct volcano Karnei Hattin (the Horns of Hattin), Mount Arbel and the Mount of Beatitudes.

Both routes culminate at the Sea of Galilee, where Gospel Trail participants will conclude their spiritual journey at the Sea of Galilee. A special dock on the shoreline was also created to provide areas for prayer and inspirational solitude.

Overall, the project has been “a great joy” from start to finish, Moran said, urging those interested to look into visiting.

For more information, please click here.

New book tells Asia Bibi's story from prison

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:05:00 -0700

Lahore, Pakistan, Feb 27, 2012 / 04:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new book on Asia Bibi's imprisonment and death sentence in Pakistan includes an unpublished letter she wrote to her husband and children urging them to have faith in God.

“My children, don’t lose courage or faith in Jesus Christ,” Bibi says in her book, “Get Me Out of Here,” released the week of Feb. 20.

Spanish publisher LibroLibres issued the new memoir, which was written by Bibi in her prison cell with the help of French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet.

Bibi’s case gained worldwide attention in 2010 when she was condemned to death for violating Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which state that anyone who offends Islam will be hanged. Critics say the country's blasphemy laws are often unjust and have become a tool for abusing religious minorities as well as vengeance between Muslims.

Bibi is still awaiting a ruling on the appeal of her death sentence and has been moved to an isolated cell without any windows, sink or toilet because of Muslim threats against her life.

In her letter to her family, Bibi movingly addresses her husband Ashiq and their five children while she awaited the granting of the appeal of her death sentence.

“Even since I have returned to by cell and have known that I am going to die, all my thoughts have turned to you, my beloved Ashiq, and to you, my beloved children. Nothing pains me more than to leave you alone in total anguish,” she said.

However, despite her fear, Bibi encouraged her family to keep alive their desire to be happy even though life is not always easy.

“We are Christians and poor, but our family is a light...I still don’t know when they will hang me, but be at peace, my loves, I shall go with my head held high, without fear, because I will be in the company of Our Lord and the Virgin Mary, who will welcome me into their arms,” she said.

Below is the full text of her letter:

My beloved Ashiq, my beloved children:

Since I have returned to my cell and have known that I am going to die, all my thoughts have turned to you, my beloved Ashiq, and you, my adoring children. Nothing pains me more than to leave you alone in total anguish.

Imran, my oldest son of 18 years, I hope you find a good wife who you will make as happy as your father has made me.

Nasima, my firstborn daughter of 22 years, you already have a husband whose family has embraced you so much. Give your father little grandchildren who you will raise in Christian charity like we have raised you.

My sweet Isha, you are 15, yet still a little rowdy. Your father and I have always considered you to be a gift from God. You are so kind and generous…Don’t try to understand why your mother is no longer at your side, but you are so present in my heart. You have a small place there reserved only for you...

Sidra, you are only 13, and I know that since I have been in prison you have taken charge of the home, you are the one caring for your older sister Isha, who needs so much help. I am so sorry I have thrust you into adult life, when you are such a young girl and should still be playing with your dolls.

My little Isham, you are only 9 and you are going to lose your mother. My God, how unfair life can be! But since you will continue going to school, you will be well prepared to defend yourself against the injustice of men.

My children, do you lose courage or faith in Jesus Christ. Better days shall smile upon you and up there, when I am in the arms of the Lord, I will continue to watch over you. But please, I ask the five of you to be prudent, I ask you not to do anything that would offend Muslims or the laws of this country.

My daughters, I hope you are fortunate enough to find a husband like your father.

Ashiq, I have loved you since the first day, and the 22 years we have spent together prove it. I have never stopped thanking heaven for finding you, for being fortunate to have a marriage that was based on love and not arranged, as usually happens in our province. We both had personalities that perfectly matched…Slanderous individuals have crossed our path. Behold, there you are alone with the fruit of our love: keep guard over the courage and pride of our family.

My children…the greatest desire of your father and I has been to be happy and to make you happy, even though life is not easy every day. We are Christians and poor, but our family is a light. I would have liked so much to see you grow up, to continue raising you and to make you into honest persons...And you will be! …I still don’t know when they will hang me, but be at peace, my loves, I shall go with my head held high, without fear, because I will be in the company of Our Lord and the Virgin Mary, who will welcome me into their arms.

My good husband, continue raising our children like I would have liked to have done with you. Ashiq, my beloved children, I shall leave you forever, but I will love you for all eternity.

Mom

Church leaders appeal for talks to prevent Syrian civil war

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:23:00 -0700

Damascus, Syria, Feb 21, 2012 / 02:23 am (CNA).- Catholic leaders have called for negotiations to prevent a civil war in Syria, where the conflict between government supporters and opponents is being compared to last year's fight for control of Libya.

“Everybody is suffering in Syria because there is violence coming from every side,” Maronite Archbishop Paul N. El-Sayeh of Antioch told the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need in remarks released Feb. 20.

“It is a desperate situation,” the Beirut-based Lebanese archbishop said of the violence taking place across the border in Syria. “I wish everyone would sit down and negotiate. Problems cannot be solved by violence.”

Archbishop El-Sayeh's hope for peace in Syria is shared by Pope Benedict XVI, who renewed his appeal for Syrians “to put an end to violence and bloodshed” in a recent Angelus address. The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has also voiced its concern for the country in recent days.

But there were few signs of any lasting peace on Feb. 20, as the Syrian military advanced on regime opponents in the city of Homs. The mobilization comes one week before a scheduled vote on a new constitution that could give more freedom to rivals of President Bashar al-Assad.

Sources told the Associated Press that Homs' Baba Amr distinct has been nicknamed “Syria's Misrata,” a reference to the Libyan city that became a central battleground during that country's 2011 civil war.

At least 5,400 Syrians have died since the movement against President al-Assad began in March 2011, according to U.N. figures released in January 2012. The regime's crackdown against protesters failed to break their resistance, and international observers are now warning of a civil war.

In his Feb. 12 Sunday Angelus message, Pope Benedict XVI said he was “following with great concern the dramatic and growing incidents of violence in Syria,” while praying for the dead, the wounded, and “all those who suffer the consequences of an increasingly worrying conflict.”

On that occasion, the Pope invited “everyone – and above all the political authorities in Syria – to favor dialogue, reconciliation and a commitment to peace.” He said it was “urgent to respond to the legitimate aspirations” of Syrians, as well as concerns of the international community.

Pope Benedict's message was followed on Feb. 16 by an appeal from Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, on behalf of the Church in Syria.

“In these months of great tension, when Syria is being torn apart by internal clashes, and where the conflict seems to be assuming more and more the form of a civil war, the Franciscans … are committed to supporting the local Christian population,” wrote the superior of the Franciscans in the Middle East.

The custos noted that Franciscan monasteries' medical facilities have become places of refuge for all Syrians, “regardless of whether they are Alawite, Sunni, Christian, rebels or government-supporters.”

During Libya's 2011 civil war, Franciscans played an important role in maintaining the life of the local Church. As he appealed for material support from the faithful around the world, Fr. Pizzaballa indicated that St. Francis' order was committed to Syria with the same spirit of solidarity.

“To be with the people, to accept and assist those in need, regardless of race, religion and nationality; to guarantee, through its confident presence, religious services to the faithful because they understand the importance of remaining in one’s own country – this remains the sense of the Franciscan mission.”

Panicked Catholics flee violence in northern Nigeria

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:50:00 -0700

Abuja, Nigeria, Jan 25, 2012 / 11:50 pm (CNA).- As many as 35,000 people have fled their homes in northern Nigeria after continuing attacks from the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Their numbers include a large number of Catholics who report that churches have been destroyed.

“There is panic. Many just leave everything behind, and run for safety, because they do not know when violence might flare up again,” a source told Aid to the Church in Need on Jan. 24.

On Jan. 20, Boko Haram killed at least 185 people in attacks that rocked Kano city, located in the state of Borno, the Associated Press reports. The coordinated attacks used cars with heavy explosives and suicide bombers who targeted police stations. Men in security uniforms gunned down government officials.

Churches have also been destroyed in Maidiguri in Borno and the city of Bauchi, in Bauchi state.

“It is the stated goal of Boko Haram to make the whole of the north free of Christians,” one source told Aid to the Church in Need.

At the beginning of January, Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa gave Christians a three-day ultimatum to leave the area.

Refugees are headed to where they believe it is safe, especially the city of Jos.

Boko Haram’s name means “western education is sinful” in Nigeria’s Hausa language. The group has killed at least 935 people since its 2009 uprising, and more than 250 since the beginning of 2012, Human Rights Watch reports.

The Catholic bishops of Nigeria have decried the actions of the group.

Analysts believe the group intends to make the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, appear unable to control the country.