Page 18 - Integral Human Development News Today

May 17, 2021 CWN Editors Note: Pope Francis devoted his 2015 encyclical Laudato si’ to care for our common home. “Today ‘Laudato Si’ Week’ begins, to educate more and more to listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor,” the Pope said on May 16. “I thank the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, the Global Catholic Climate Movement, Caritas Internationalis and the numerous member organizations, and I invite everyone to participate.” The above not...

May 07, 2021 CWN Editors Note: The US bishops’ conference is expected to vote in June on a statement regarding the reception of Communion by prominent Catholics who reject Church teachings on the dignity of human life. But Cardinal Michael Czerny, the undersecretary of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, remarked that as a matter of canon law, each diocesan bishop has the authority to make his own determination on that question. “It’s not up to the bishops in general to make the...

Pope Francis, the imperfect reform 05/03/2021 at 2:00 AM Posted by Kevin Edward White By Andrea Gagliarducci, Monday Vatican, April 23, 2021 Without an announcement in the official bulletin,  Pope Francis has made a small reform that could have a significant impact: he included, among the members of the three new dicasteries created as such, laypeople and monsignors alongside cardinals and archbishops. It is a small thing, since also before there were lay members in some of the dicasteri...

The Tablet May 3, 2021 A woman wearing a protective mask and face shield prays during Easter Mass outside St. Peter Parish: Shrine of Leaders in Manila, Philippines, April 4, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vatican released a new document “Accompanying People in Psychological Distress in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Members of One Body, Loved by One Love,” which was summoned by Pope Francis to try to imagine a post-pandemic world. (Photo: CNS/Lisa Marie David, Reuter...

Vatican tackles psychological fallout from Covid pandemic May 1, 2021 rome bureau chief Catholics facing mental health issues often struggle with how to reconcile psychology with spirituality. (Credit: Lolostock via Shutterstock.) One of the less documented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the impact of lockdowns, uncertainties and restrictions on the mental health of the millions who’ve had a first-hand experience of the virus, either due to the loss of a loved one, as first resp...

April 26, 2021 CWN Editors Note: Pope Francis has quietly added lay Catholics to the newly created Vatican dicasteries for Integral Human Development, Communications, and Laity, Family and Life. Ordinarily only cardinals and bishops are appointed to the Vatican congregations, but canon law allows for lay members “according to the peculiar nature of some dicasteries.” However, while the appointments of bishops have been announced by the Vatican, the appointments of lay members have not been ...

A man receives a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Masaka hospital in Kigali, Rwanda, March 5, 2021. (CNS photo/Jean Bizimana, Reuters) Two problems have stymied efforts to get more people vaccinated against Covid-19 worldwide: Vaccine skepticism and vaccine scarcity. A coalition of 42 Catholic domestic and international health care providers and development and relief agencies was launched this month to address both of those challenges. The coalition will confront misin...

April 07, 2021 CWN Editors Note: In a message for World Health Day, April 7, the Vatican’s dicastery for Integral Human Development argues that health care is a matter of justice. “Health inequalities are unfair,” says the document, “but they are also preventable through strategies that aim to ensure equal access to health care.” The document is signed by Cardinal Peter Turkson, the prefect of the dicastery. The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original ...

Iraq: An overview of the Church and of the countrys Christian communities Pope Francis is to undertake the first-ever apostolic journey to Iraq from 5 to 8 March. We offer an overview of the nations ancientand diverse Christian communities, of their plight and of their challenges. By Lisa Zengarini Christianity has been in Iraq from its earliest times, as the Acts of the Apostles testify. Its origins go back to the preaching of St Thomas the Apostle and his disciples Addai and Mari in the fir...

Pope Francis on Monday joined survivors of human trafficking, religious sisters and cardinals in a day of prayer against modern day slavery, calling for a “courageous economy” with market rules that promote justice and bans human trafficking.