Tej Francis
USA
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RELEASES NEW RULE TO STOP TITLE X FUNDING FOR ABORTION PROVIDERS
(www.pop.org) The Trump administration yesterday released a much-anticipated rule proposal to block federal Title X family planning grants from funding abortion clinics and service providers that offer abortion referrals.
The new rule is expected to hit Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers hard. Planned Parenthood alone stands to lose as much as $60 million a year under the rule change if they refuse to disentangle their abortion services from Title X services. Title X is a federal grant program that provides funding to local public and private clinics exclusively for family planning and contraceptive services for low-income and uninsured individuals.
The new proposed rule will substantially change current federal regulations by preventing Title X grantees from performing, promoting, encouraging or lobbying for abortion as method of family planning. Service providers under the new rule will be required to disentangle abortion-related activities from Title X services and will be prohibited from offering direct abortion referrals or from scheduling abortion appointments for clients.
The proposed rule will also require Title X grantees to comply with state and local laws for reporting cases of child abuse, rape, incest, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence. Planned Parenthood clinics have been known to fail to properly report statutory rape, sex trafficking, and other crimes as required by law.
ROME
WITH NEW CARDINALS, POPE SPEAKS ABOUT THE CHURCH AND HIMSELF
(Cruxnow) Popes speak in a lot of different ways, relatively few of which actually involve the use of words. When a pope makes a personnel move, for instance, it always says a great deal about where he wants the Church to go and the kind of person he believes can get it there.
On Sunday, therefore, Pope Francis said a great deal by announcing 14 new cardinals, including 11 under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to elect his successor. Some of what the pope said through those selections is about the state of the Church, and some appeared to be at least as much about the pope himself.
The fourteen prelates named by the pope on Sunday will enter the College of Cardinals formally on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, in a consistory ceremony held in Rome.
ABUJA, NIGERIA
NATIONWIDE PROTESTS IN NIGERIA ASK GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE CHURCH SECURITY
(CNA/EWTN News) Catholics from across Nigeria participated in peaceful protests on Tuesday, calling for greater government protection following a recent attack at a Catholic Church that left 19 dead.
Thousands of people in 54 cities across Nigeria participated in protests May 22, corresponding with the burial of two priests and 17 parishioners killed by Fulani herdsmen, who opened fire at a daily Mass on April 24. The herdsmen then flooded the streets, attacking pedestrians and setting fires to some 50 homes.
White caskets of those killed in the attacks were carried through the streets of the Benue state’s capital city, Makurdi, near Saint Ignatius Church, where the attack took place. Christians in other cities carried signs on the same day to proclaim the sacredness of life and a greater need for government aid. The state of Benue shut down operations May 22 to honor those who died, Nigeria’s PM news reported. Several dozen bishops attended the burials and spoke at rallies across the nation.
Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, spoke at a requiem Mass in Ayatu, Benue, according to local media. He questioned, “If we are not safe in our place of worship centers, where else can we be safe?” Bishop Lucius Ugorji of Umuahia spoke at a peaceful protest in Abia state. In his speech, local media reported, he decried a lack of respect for life within the nation.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
FOREIGN BISHOPS RESPOND TO GERMAN INTERCOMMUNION PROPOSAL
(CNA/EWTN News) Several bishops from outside Germany have critiqued a proposal to allow Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive communion in German dioceses under some limited circumstances, citing the proposal’s effects on their own local Churches.
The proposal has been championed by Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who announced in February that the German bishops’ conference would publish a pastoral handout that allows Protestant spouses of Catholics “in individual cases” and “under certain conditions” to receive Holy Communion, provided they “affirm the Catholic faith in the Eucharist”.
But the proposal was questioned by seven German bishops, who asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith whether the question can be decided on the level of a national bishops’ conference, or if rather “a decision of the Universal Church” is required in the matter.
When several bishops from Germany visited Rome May 3, an inconclusive meeting ended with the Vatican sending the Germans back, saying Pope Francis wants the bishops to come to an agreement among themselves.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia was pointed in his criticism of the proposal in an essay published May 23 at First Things, raising doctrinal concerns regarding what it would mean to allow these non-Catholics to receive the Eucharist.
Chaput explains that while bishops everywhere have disagreements, he believes the situation in Germany to be different due to both the “global prominence of the controversy,” as well as the doctrinal issues. He added that “What happens in Germany will not stay in Germany. History has already taught us that lesson once,” citing the effects of Martin Luther’s schism.
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