– Tej Francis
STRASBOURG, FRANCE
MYSTIC AND RELIGIOUS FOUNDER MOTHER ALPHONSE MARIE BEATIFIED IN STRASBOURG, FRANCE
(CNA) A personal encounter with Mother Alphonse Marie Eppinger inspired “conversions which were far more miraculous than the raising of the dead,” recounted her spiritual director, Father Jean-David Reichard. The nineteenth century French mystic and religious founder was beatified this week in her native Strasbourg after a miraculous physical healing through her intercession was confirmed.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Causes of the Saints, celebrated the beatification Mass in the Cathedral of Notre Dame on Sept. 9 in Strasbourg, France.
Mother Alphonse Marie had “the gift of seeing people, what is in their souls,” wrote Abbe Glöckler, who knew Eppinger personally and later wrote her biography. “She had a right word and advice for everyone. God gifted her with a good mind and right judgment. Many left her with the decision to change their lives and to walk the right path.”
Eppinger was able to “scrutinize human hearts” and “reveal things that were hidden,” using these spiritual gifts to advise the priests who would “visit her in abundant numbers” seeking counsel. “God gave her a specific commission for priests,” Glöckler continued, “She told them about dignity and the grandeur of the priesthood. She prayed a lot for priests, the Holy Father, and the Diocesan Bishop.” Eppinger also composed many several prayers for confessors.
The eldest of eleven children, Elizabeth Eppinger, was born into a peasant family on Sept. 9, 1814, in Niederbronn, France. In his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis expressed gratitude for Mother Alphonsus Marie’s beatification: “Let us thank God for this courageous and wise woman who, in suffering, in silence, and in prayer, witnessed the love of God especially to those who were sick in body and in spirit.”
BEIJING, CHINA
BEIJING BANS ONLINE EVANGELIZATION AMID RELIGIOUS CRACKDOWN
(Catholic Herald) The Chinese government has increased measures to suppress religious belief and practice. New regulations, published on the government’s legal information website on Sept. 10, make it illegal for religious services, prayer, or preaching to be broadcast online.
Under the new “Measures for the management of religious information on the Internet” those groups or churches wishing to maintain a religious website will need a government-issued license certifying that their content is politically acceptable. Online evangelization is strictly prohibited, as are materials aimed at converting readers. Catechetical or instructive resources cannot be openly published online and must be restricted to internal networks accessed with registered user names and passwords.
The ban represents the latest development in President Xi Jinping’s policy of Sinicization, which places national identity and communist political belief over religious faith. At the same time as the new rules were published, reports emerged of more churches being closed in several provinces.
According to China Aid, a U.S. based organization supporting persecuted Christians, the first week of September saw government officials in Henan Province launch a wave of “escalating measures” against local Christians. These have included the removal and destruction of crosses from individuals and families, raids on church buildings, and the seizure of property.
Other reports include accounts of Bibles being burned and of Christians being forced to sign statements renouncing their faith. The recent escalation is part of a pattern of church closures and demolitions across China following broad changes to government religious policy in February, 2018. Those changes, which tightened restrictions on places of worship and banned children from attending religious services, also placed the state-sanctioned Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association under the direct oversight of the Communist Party.
The new limitations on religious freedom and practice, and the introduction of the Sinicization policy, coincided with other constitutional reforms consolidating the position of President Xi.
VATICAN
POPE TO MEET WITH BISHOPS TO DISCUSS PROTECTION OF MINORS
(Vatican news) Pope Francis has convened the Presidents of all the Episcopal Conferences of the whole world for a meeting in Rome to discuss the prevention of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. The announcement was made by the Vice-director of the Holy See Press Office, Paloma García Ovejero, at a press briefing on the meeting of the Council of Cardinal Advisers, which concluded Wednesday morning.
A communiqué by from the Council of Cardinals gave further details. The meeting with the Pope will take place in the Vatican from 21-24 February 2019. The Cardinals’ statement noted that during this week’s reunion, the Council had “reflected fully together with the Holy Father on the issue of abuse.”
Wednesday’s press briefing was dedicated to a review of this week’s meeting of the Council of Cardinal Advisors. According to the Vice director, “A large part of the work of the Council was dedicated to the final adjustments to the draft of the new Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, which has for a provisional title Praedicate evangelium.” A copy of the provisional text has been delivered to the Holy Father, with the expectation that the document will be reviewed in terms of canon law, and subject to further revision.
During the meetings of the Council, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., updated those present on the work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Finally, the Cardinals once again expressed their full solidarity with Pope Francis with regard to what has happened in the last weeks.
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