By Robin Gomes

India’s Catholic community has been urged “to strengthen its solidarity with the poor”, who are considered “useless objects” in the eyes of today’s economic system.

The call was made by Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai Diocese, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), who inaugurated the annual general body meeting of the All India Catholic Union (AICU) in Mumbai on Sunday.

Plight of the poor

“We should not treat the poor as insignificant non-persons without any rights and an obstacle to society. It is a matter of concern and we must understand their plight and treat them equally,” Archbishop Machado said in a webinar that was hosted in keeping with the Covid-19 protocols.    

Founded in 1919, the AICU is the oldest lay Catholic organization of India.  In a press release on Tuesday, it noted that participants expressed concerns over the plight of the poor, the digital divide in society, attacks on minority rights and the Indian government’s “worrisome” New Education Policy (NEP).

In his address, Archbishop Machado explained, “due to globalization, millions of poor people are considered as useless objects and are used and thrown away by the economic system”. In this regard, he recalled Saint Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis who have urged that the foreign debt of poor countries, manipulated by creditors with taxes and interest, be written off.   

Indian and Christian at the same time

Archbishop Machado dismissed allegations of “vested interests” that question the patriotism of India’s Christians. “We are Indians and at the same time Christians,” he said, stressing the two cannot be separated.

At the same time, the Church promotes dialogue with all, irrespective of their religious affiliations, to foster values of peace, justice and freedom so that everyone’s rights are respected.

“We need to collaborate not only with other Christian denominations but also with civil society and like-minded people of all faiths,” the AICU statement said.

Concerns 

The AICU meeting noted that the government’s New Education Policy has created apprehension in the country’s Christian community.  The CBCI and AICU have demanded continuing consultations on the NEP and assurances that it will not violate the rights of states or religious minorities and will ensure adequate budgetary provisions for universal education.

The meeting also touched upon issues such as threats faced by the Catholic Church from religious fundamentalists, changes in laws related to the environment and the need for a concerted response from the CBCI and the AICU to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

By Vatican News

Delegates of the Democratic Party cast their ballots for Biden in an online poll on Tuesday night.

The vote was largely a formality, as he had remained the only candidate standing in the race.

The 4-day Democratic Party Convention is a largely virtual affair this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter appeared onscreen at the virtual convention to express their support for Biden.

Biden officially accepted the nomination with a brief expression of gratitude.

“Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart,” said Biden. “It means the world to me and my family.”

Biden will deliver his formal acceptance speech on Thursday at the close of the Democratic Party Convention.

By Devin Watkins

Ecuador’s indigenous communities are calling on the judicial system to hold the government and oil companies accountable for the damage caused by an oil spill in early April.

Catholic leaders from across Latin America and from other parts of the globe joined in that appeal with a letter expressing support for their plight.

Ecological disaster

On 7 April 2020, a landslide burst three pipelines carrying crude oil along the Coca River.

Over 16,000 barrels of oil spilled into the river, washing downstream and polluting vast tracts of land.

The pipelines are managed by state-run oil company Petroecuador and a private company, Heavy Crude Pipeline (OCP).

The resulting environmental damage hit Ecuador’s indigenous communities hardest, due to their heavy reliance on sustenance fishing and hunting in the affected area.

Wide range of Catholic leaders

Now, months later, judicial hearings resumed to discover who was responsible for the disaster.

A group of 117 Catholic leaders sent an amicus brief to the judge overseeing the case. In it they present relevant information and arguments for consideration.

The letter’s signatories include Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso, two Archbishops, 42 Bishops, and a wide complement of religious superiors and directors of lay organizations.

Unhindered exploitation

“As people of faith,” the letter reads, “we call attention to one of the most urgent moral questions with which we are confronted today in the Amazon region of Latin America.”

The Catholic leaders say the Ecuador disaster “is sadly only one of many recent examples in a long history of ecological and human health crises that are the result of the unhindered extraction and exploitation of natural resources.”

They explain their desire to “defend and promote human rights as both a social duty and a demand arising out of faith.”

Reparation and prevention

Defending the rights of indigenous communities, say Catholic leaders, includes “condemning extractive destruction and encouraging states to fulfill their obligations in this regard.”

“May justice be done,” they urge, calling for “comprehensive and urgent measures to repair the harm done to the communities and ecosystems damaged by the oil spill.”

Preventative strategies must be put in place, conclude Catholic leaders, “so that serious incidents such as these are never repeated in Ecuador or in any other Amazonian nation.”

By Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ

Malian President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced his resignation hours after he and Prime Minister, Boubou Cisse were detained by mutinous soldiers.

Both Mali’s 75-year-old President and Prime Minister were seized on Tuesday in the capital city, Bamako. This followed months of massive protests calling for Keita to step down three years before the end of this second term as president.

Keita announced his resignation on Tuesday night via national broadcaster ORTM, explaining he had little choice but to stand down to avoid bloodshed. He also dissolved the country’s national assembly and government.

“For seven years, I have with great joy and happiness tried to put this country on its feet,” Keita said. “If today some people from the armed forces have decided to end it by their intervention, do I have a choice? I should submit to it because I do not want any blood to be shed.”

Following his announcement, the UN security council scheduled a closed meeting for Wednesday to discuss the unfolding situation in the West African country.

Context

Mali has been mired in political troubles in recent months as President Boubacar Keita has come under increased pressure from the opposition Rassemblement des forces patriotiques (M5 RFP) to resign.

Keita became president in 2013 and was re-elected in 2018. However, his second term has been overshadowed with allegations of corruption, incompetence and mismanagement of the economy. 

Recent protests were sparked by a controversial ruling of the country’s Constitutional Court to overturn the results of 31 parliamentary elections which took place in March, in favor of President Keita’s party. Since protests began in June, at least 14 people have been killed according to the United Nations.

Pressure from protesters moved Keita to announce a reshuffle of the country’s Constitutional Court last month.

Peace efforts

In July, opposition party M5 RFP rejected a proposal by a delegation from the Economic Community of West-African States (ECOWAS) calling for the resignation of the 31 disputed members of parliament, and for fresh parliamentary elections to be held. ECOWAS also called for the creation of a unity government that would include members of the opposition insisting that Keita not be forced to resign.

Religious leaders also have been vocal in their appeals for peace in the nation. Following the increasingly violent protests last month, the Archbishop of Bamako, Cardinal Jean Zerbo, the president of the Islamic High Council, Cherif Ousmane Madani Haidara and the president of the Association of Evangelical Protestant Church Groups and Mission in Mali (AGEMPEM), Reverend Nouh Ag InfaYattara called for calm and reconciliation among the citizens.

Cardinal Zerbo, in his appeal to the nation, said the nation did not deserve what was happening to it and mourned the deaths of the people killed during the protests.

AU, EU, UN react

World and regional leaders have also condemned the forced resignation of Keita. 

A statement by UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, noted that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the “immediate restoration of constitutional order and the rule of law in Mali.” He also called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and members of his cabinet.

Also, Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat issued a statement calling for the release of Keita, the Prime Minister, and other members of the government. He also “strongly rejects any attempt at the unconstitutional change of government in Mali and calls on the mutineers to cease all recourse to violence.”

By Christopher Wells

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has not only “exposed the plight of the poor and the serious inequality that reigns in the world,” but even exacerbated them, Pope Francis said at the Wednesday General Audience.

Continuing his catechesis on “Healing the World,” the Holy Father said our response to the pandemic must be twofold: “finding a cure for this small but terrible virus,” but also curing “a larger virus, that of social injustice, inequality of opportunity, marginalisation, and lack of protection for the weakest.”

In meeting that challenge, he said, we must always keep in mind the “preferential option for the poor.” This is not a political, ideological, or partisan option, he said. Rather, “the preferential option for the poor is at the centre of the Gospel.”

Closeness to the poor

Following the example of Jesus, the Pope said, Christians “are recognised by their closeness to the poor, the least, the sick and the imprisoned, the excluded and the forgotten, those without food and clothing.” This, he said, “is a key criterion of Christian authenticity.” And he emphasised that it is not the duty only of a few, but of every Christian: “It is the mission of the Church as a whole.”

The preference for the poor is rooted in the virtues of faith, hope and love. Going beyond the bare necessities, “it implies walking together, allowing ourselves be evangelized by [the poor], who know the suffering Christ well, letting ourselves be ‘infected’ by their experience of salvation, their wisdom, and creativity.”

Going to the peripheries

Closeness to the poor, said Pope Francis, also implies working to overcome the “unhealthy social structures,” as we strive to return normality in the aftermath of the pandemic.

This “normality,” however, should not include returning to “social injustices and the degradation of the environment” that marks contemporary society, the Pope said. He lamented an economy focused on profits over people, arguing that “the preferential option for the poor, this ethical-social need that comes from God’s love, inspires us to conceive of and design an economy where people, and especially the poorest, are at the centre.”

Prioritising those who have greatest need

Similarly, as treatments for the coronavirus become more widely available, society should prioritise those who have the greatest need, rather than those who have the most money, the Pope insisted. “How sad it would be if, for the Covid-19 vaccine, priority were to be given to the richest.”

Pope Francis also warned against the “scandal” of directing economic assistance during the pandemic primarily to “industries that do not contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, the promotion of the least, the common good, or the care of creation” – which he proposed as four criteria for determining which industries should be helped. 

Changing the world

Looking ahead, Pope Francis said, “if the virus were to intensify again in a world that is unjust to the poor and vulnerable, then we must change the world.”

Pointing to the example of Jesus, “the doctor of integrated divine love,” the Holy Father said, “we must act now, to heal the epidemics caused by the small, invisible viruses, and to heal those caused by the serious and visible social injustices.”

Pope Francis proposed to accomplish this “by starting from the love of God, placing the peripheries at the centre and those who are least in first place.”

“Starting from this love anchored in hope and founded in faith, a healthier world will be possible.”

By Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and the continent’s largest democracy. Home to approximately 200 million people, it is blessed with abundant human and natural resources, with a rich mix of over 250 ethnic groups and over 500 spoken languages.

Recently, however, northern Nigeria has seen increased instances of violent attacks and escalating acts of terrorism. The southern part of Kaduna state, in particular, has been the epicenter of a rash of attacks, with at least three occurring in July alone. Nigeria’s northeastern region has also been plagued by terrorist attacks carried out by the extremist Boko haram organization, which has killed thousands and displaced approximately two million people. These various factors, coupled with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, make for a grim situation.

In an interview with Vatican News, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, the board chairman of the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), spoke on the situation in northern Nigeria, stressing the need for a government for everyone irrespective of ethnicity or religion.

Born in 1969, Emeka Umeagbalasi is a graduate of security studies and holds a Master’s degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. He is also a human rights activist and the convener of the Coalition of Human Rights and Democracy Organizations (SBCHROs), a group of over twenty rights and democracy organizations in Southeast Nigeria. Mr. Umeagbalasi is also a Catholic.

Pope Francis’s closeness 

Pope Francis, at the Angelus address on Saturday, 15 August, prayed for Nigeria in the wake of the violence and killings in the north of the country.

The Nigerian Bishops’ Conference (CBCN), in a statement dated 8 August, said that they are “tired of this situation” of increasing insecurity, especially in southern Kaduna. They called for a stop to the killings in the country, and urged all Christians to join in a 40-day prayer of one Our Father, three Hail Marys, and one Glory Be to the Father each day, ending on 1 October – Nigeria’s Independence Day.

Disproportionate Christian casualties

“Nigeria is a country of roughly fifty percent Muslim and fifty percent Christians,” Umeagbalasi pointed out, adding that the country also has a multiplicity of ethnicities. It is therefore expected to be “governed secularly and pluralistically.” 

However, said Umeagbalasi, the attacks from the Boko haram militants, Fulani herdsmen, and other terrorist groups in the region “have destroyed over 17,000 churches since 2009.”

To remedy this, the current government administration has to examine its very foundations and corporate motives, as to whether it has “come to govern everybody irrespective of the citizens’ religion and ethnicity,” he said.

“The government can rewind,” he stated. “The government can go back to the drawing board and start from the foundation, reorganizing the entire establishment to give it a true picture of a pluralistic Nigeria.” For this to happen, he explained, no faction should be given preferential treatment by the government.

Umeagbalasi also lauded the Pope’s recent fatherly gesture of praying for Nigeria, saying that “it means that the Pope is not oblivious of what is going on in Nigeria.” 

Southern Kaduna attacks

Kaduna state, the focal point of recent attacks, straddles Nigeria’s religious and ethnic divide.

Northern Kaduna is predominantly Muslim and Hausa-Fulani, while the south is largely Christian and populated by several ethnic groups. Relations between the North and South have been strained, owing largely to competition over resources and tensions of a political nature. Unfortunately, these tensions have sometimes resulted in violence.

The spate of recent attacks, according to Umeagbalasi, are part of a bigger picture. He pointed out that, while the focus of recent attacks is presently southern Kaduna, other states have also suffered violent attacks. He gave the example of Plateau and Benue states where he says 158 and 152 people have been killed respectively. “Even Igboland where Christianity is concentrated is not spared,” he added.

Umeagbalasi pointed out that for the violence to end in northern Nigeria, the government has to evenly distribute “the composition and concentration of all the public security and policing structures,” and not put them in the hands of members of one ethnic group or religion.

“Kaduna is composed of roughly sixty percent Muslims and forty percent Christians,” Umeagbalasi said. Therefore, it would be expected that “all these particular socio/cultural factors are reflected” in state government and security.

Intersociety

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) was founded in 2008 with the vision of campaigning “vigorously for the promotion and advancement of democracy, accountable governance, rule of law, civil liberties and public security and safety.”

Mr. Umeagbalasi said he hopes the organization he leads will become a formidable voice with the capacity to represent effectively what is going on in the country “on the local, national and international level.”

By Robin Gomes

Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta has called on Indonesians to work together to fight corruption, violence and climate change as the country celebrated its Independence Day on Aug. 17.

Independence Day in the south-east Asian nation was limited to a subdued virtual ceremony because of the Covid-19 restrictions. 

Corruption, violence and environmental damage

In a video message, Cardinal Suharyo reminded all that the ideals of the nation – unity, sovereignty, justice and prosperity – oblige all sectors of society to work towards the common good.

These national ideals, he pointed out, are being threatened by corruption, violence and environmental damage. 

Indonesia continues to be plagued by high-profile corruption cases, unrest in Papua, and violent acts of terrorism or intolerance by religious extremists. Meanwhile, the destruction of rainforests, pollution resulting from slash-and-burn agriculture and plastic waste are degrading the environment. The Cardinal lamented that these ills are growing every year.

Common good

When celebrating Independence Day, Cardinal Suharyo said, “We should not only commemorate it but take it as our responsibility … to build and realize the common good”.

The 70-year old Cardinal reminded Catholics that, despite the hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, they should work for social justice and promote the national ideals in families, communities, parishes and basic communities.

Two other eminent Catholics have backed the Cardinal’s call.

“It is our responsibility as citizens to overcome these challenges for the progress of our nation,” Vincentius Hargo Mandirahardjo, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Catholic Intellectuals (ISKA), told UCA News.

Jesuit Father Francis Xavier Mudji Sutrisno, a professor at Jakarta’s Driyarkara School of Philosophy, said the three social ills cited by the Cardinal must be a priority of the government.

“The law must be enforced fairly to overcome corruption, violence and environmental damage,” he told UCA News. “If the law can still be sidestepped,” he warned, “these problems will never stop.” 

He blamed the situation on the lack of morality in Indonesia’s politics. Democracy without legal certainty provides fertile ground for violence, corruption and acts detrimental to the environment, he said.

He exhorted all to “work hand in hand to end such practices and put our selfishness, group or personal interests behind us to achieve a better society.”