Browse past isues
Help the mission
Support the mission
Get in touch
Vacationers face a choice: to be pro-earth or anti-earth tourists. Encouraging vacationers to choose the former was the core of the message from the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers for this year’s World Tourism Day, scheduled for Sept. 27: a tourist “can contribute to keeping the planet alive and to curbing the gradual increase of alarming climate change.”
Christians should not label politics as the realm where corruption flourishes, but should engage in politics as an instrument for building up a society worthy of man. The statement was made by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, when he concluded a two-day Vatican conference on “Politics, a Demanding Form of Charity.”
When visiting Rome, the Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga spoke about the challenges facing Latin America, including emigration. He affirmed that “the solution does not lie in building walls, but instead in helping poor countries.” The president of Caritas Internationalis explained: “No one emigrates for pleasure, but out of necessity. When young people can’t find work, they must necessarily look for it in other places, if they are not to enter the drug circuit. We are convinced that the international community must recognize that development cannot exclude anyone, and solidarity and justice must prevail. Without solidarity and social justice, in fact, it is difficult to have peace.”
“It is a duty of justice” that the international community “should be vigilant” over the distribution of the riches of the planet, so that the countries where these resources are located should be the first beneficiaries, and rich countries should not appropriate them for themselves alone. Justice and solidarity, the rejection of violence, and fraternity should, in fact, guide international relations. This is the central theme that Benedict XVI developed, receiving at the Vatican a group of ambassadors who came to present their letters of accreditation, including diplomatic representatives from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Rising pollution levels are responsible for the death of at least 10,000 people and 440,000 hospital bed days in Hong Kong, Macao and southern China, a study released by the Civic Exchange Institute found. “We estimate that there are about 10,000 deaths occurring which are attributable to daily pollution, deaths which are potentially avoidable,” said Anthony Hedley, a professor in the Department of Community Medicine at Hong Kong University, who was part of the team conducting the study.
Tuberculosis still ranks number six among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the Philippines. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the country has the ninth highest number of cases in the world and the highest in Southeast Asia. Globally, there were more than nine million new cases and about 1.7 million deaths from the disease in 2006; the WHO estimates there are more than 14 million people living with TB, which kills 75 Filipinos each day, according to the Department of Health.
The oldest church in the world is in Jordan. The discovery was made by a group of archaeologists, and has been published by the Jordan Times. According to researchers, the church dates back to between 33 and 70 A.D. “We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world,” says Abdul Qader al-Husan, head of Jordan’s Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies. The church is located beneath the Church of St. George (230 A.D.) in Rihab, in the northern part of the country near the Syrian border.
The New Evangelization needs journalists to penetrate the current media-driven society, said Cardinal Marc Ouellet in the closing address of the Catholic Media Convention 2008. The archbishop of Quebec added that the New Evangelization is “the greatest challenge facing the Church at the beginning of the new millennium.” And remembered: “Let us never forget that the Church is communication and, therefore, the Church’s media work is inextricably linked with its other evangelization efforts.”
The Holy See played a key role in brokering a ban on cluster bombs, revealed Archbishop Silvio Tommasi. The Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations considered that the international agreement is a “big step,” even though there is still much work to be done.
The openness the Chinese government has shown concerning earthquake relief work bodes well for human rights in China, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong said after a special Mass for Sichuan quake victims. Cardinal Zen also said in his homily that amid the suffering caused by the tragedy, God has revealed human magnanimity through love for the affected people. And even stated: “A new China has been born out of the quake.” Elaborating on this after Mass, he told the press that he appreciated the Chinese leaders’ openness to journalists reporting on the disaster and acceptance of foreign aid, which he said shows they really want to help the people.
