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“Only sobriety, awareness of oneself, truth, love, self-giving, deep personal relationships, communion, meditation and faith can obtain for us happiness.”
War is irrational and inhuman, and nonviolence needs to become a language, reconciliation a style of life. These were some of the conclusions at the Italian Episcopal Conference’s convention on “For a World of Peace: the Dream of Isaiah and the Proclamation of Christ.” Caritas-Italy and Pax Christi co-sponsored the event.
Pakistani Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti (photo) has said that the government plans to revise its laws against blasphemy this year. Bhatti said religious reconciliation was a little-noticed priority for President Asif Ali Zardari’s civilian government in Pakistan, Samaa TV reports.
Leprosy is still a plague, with 210,000 new cases of infection per year (not counting those long-infected, only recently diagnosed). But the world is indifferent and oblivious, even though the disease can be easily eradicated. In a message for the 57th World Day of Leprosy, Msgr. Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Health Care Workers, demands that the international community strengthen its efforts for the treatment and prevention of this scourge.
While the nation is still reeling from the tragic story of Shazia – the young Catholic girl brutally murdered in Lahore by her Muslim employer, the Catholic Church in Pakistan launches a warning, in light of this tragic case: “There are more than 10 million child laborers in the country, an obvious violation of Child Labor Laws,” says a document by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Pakistani Bishops’ Conference.
For the first time in Chinese history, an animal rights proposal has been made, which would ban selling, cooking and eating dogs and cats. If adopted, it would make such commerce a criminal offence carrying a maximum 5,000 yuan (US$ 730) fine and 15 days detention. The proposal’s main advocate is Chang Jiwen, a social law researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He has spearheaded animal welfare legislation for the past 11 years. His 181-clause proposal was presented last September for public consultation.
The “repatriation” of two pandas born in captivity in the United States became a celebration of Sino-American friendship. The two animals, born and raised in the U.S., headed for Sichuan. The event took place after highly-tense weeks that saw the two countries at loggerheads over the internet, human rights, exchange rates, Dalai Lama and arms sales to Taiwan. “Panda diplomacy” remains one of the few channels of dialogue and cooperation between the two world superpowers.
Msgr. Thomas Menamparampil (photo), Archbishop of Guwahati and chairman of the Office of Evangelization of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), while speaking about the challenges and obstacles priests must face in a multicultural and multifaith society like India, said that, in order to cope with “the painful realities of the day,” we must recover the “lost mysticism.” And added: “If a realist theologian like Karl Rahner could say that the Christian of tomorrow would need to be a mystic or else cease to be even a believer, we can see how much more important it is for a priest to be a ‘mystic.’ Rahner’s statement has proved to be prophetic in this respect. We have witnessed the loss of faith amidst large sections of Christian believers in different parts of the world. Many who wanted to set the world right without the help of their Christian faith have found themselves unequipped for the mighty endeavor.”
It is no easy task to rescue child victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in the Philippines. The authorities deny it even it exists. “The problem has been solved,” they say, “it does not exist now.” Journalists and human rights workers are not welcome in the office of mayors that host sex industries in their communities in case they find the evidence of child trafficking that they try so hard to hide. My experience and the evidence gathered on video and sound proves beyond doubt that children as young as 14 can be purchased by private arrangement. Sex clubs proudly advertise their Mayor’s permit and license to operate. The girls are guaranteed to be clean of sexually-transmitted diseases. The club operator, a woman, proudly told me that government-paid health workers come to the clubs to do the tests to be sure the girls do not infect the customers.
Human activity is causing the diversity of life on Earth to be lost at a greatly accelerated rate. These losses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on every day. However, if the international community shows the will to mobilize and coordinate efforts, it’s possible to prevent them. That’s why the UN declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.
