Survey: Most don’t see reasons to seek vaccine religious exemption as valid

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Catholic News Service
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People raise signs against a chain-link fence to show drivers on Ohio state Route 8 during an Aug. 16, 2021, protest against the COVID-19 vaccine mandates at Summa Health Hospital in Akron, Ohio. (CNS photo/Stephen Zenner, Reuters)

By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A poll released Dec. 9 showed a strong majority of Americans don’t see the reasons for a religious exemption to the coronavirus vaccine as valid.

“Few Americans say that the COVID-19 vaccine goes against their personal religious beliefs (13%) or that the teachings of their religion prohibit them from getting vaccinated (10%),” said a report on the poll, commissioned jointly by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core.

However, a slender majority of those polled say religious exemptions should be granted if someone has a document from a religious leader, a record of refusing other vaccinations, or belongs to a religious group that has a record of refusing other vaccines.

These details were found in the report, “Religious Identities and the Race Against the Virus: American Attitudes on Vaccination Mandates and Religious Exemptions.” The Dec. 9 report is the third such PRRI-IFYC joint survey this year on vaccines.

Black Americans are less likely to be vaccine refusers today (11%) than they were in March (19%), two surveys ago.

The surveyed showed anger depending on one’s vaccination stance. “Vaccinated Democrats (84%) are twice as likely as vaccinated Republicans (43%) to say they are angry at those who refuse to get vaccinated,” the report said. “On the other side, more than seven in 10 unvaccinated Americans (71%) say they are ‘angry at those who think they have the right to tell me to get vaccinated against COVID-19.'”

In all, 5,721 Americans were interviewed online Oct. 18-Nov. 9, including 924 white Catholics and 311 Hispanic Catholics. The margin of error for overall survey results is plus or minus 1.7%.

Fifty-nine percent of those polled agreed that vaccination was an example of loving your neighbor — a statement which found agreement by 60% of white Catholics and 66% of Hispanic Catholics.

While 60% of white Catholics and 40% of Hispanic Catholics say government should allow people to opt out of vaccinations if they sincerely believe they violate the teachings of their religion, 62% of white Catholics and 68% Hispanic Catholics — as did 60% of all polled — agreed with the statement: “There are no valid religious reasons to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Moreover, 59% of white Catholics, 63% of Hispanic Catholics and 59% of all surveyed said that “too many people are using religion to avoid vaccination.” Smaller percentages agreed that “no one should be allowed to claim an exemption from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine based on their religious beliefs: 44% of white Catholics — close to the 45% overall total — and 56% of Hispanic Catholics.

Acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine has risen since the first poll in March: The acceptance rate by white Catholics went up from 68% in March to 82% in the current poll. Meanwhile, Hispanic Catholic acceptance, initially below that of white Catholics in March (56%) shot up to 80% in the second poll in June and to 90% in the newest survey.

Hispanic Catholics also have eclipsed their white counterparts in their support for companies requiring employees to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations, 66% to 46%.

Despite their acceptance of the COVID vaccine, 63% of Hispanic Catholics and 49% of white Catholics say they have “moderate or major concerns about the vaccines,” the report said. Further, 48% of Hispanic Catholics and 44% of white Catholics agree with the statement, “The government is not telling us about other treatments for COVID-19 that are just as effective as the vaccine.”

Majorities of parents in all religious groups express at least moderate concerns about vaccinations for children, including 77% of Hispanic Catholics and 65% of white Catholics. Despite misgivings, 47% of white Catholics are vaccine acceptant for their children, and 54% of Hispanic Catholics say they have gotten or will get their children vaccinated.

Of those who have gotten vaccinated, 44% Hispanic Catholics and 39% white Catholics were motivated at least in part by the desire to protect those who can’t get vaccinated.

“The vaccine-hesitant category has shrunk to the point that no single religious group has sufficient sample size to report how religious approaches might influence their willingness to get vaccinated,” the report said. “However … there are still indications that some religious Americans — particularly Christians of color — could be reached by one or more religious approaches.”

Among the examples of such outreach listed in the report were: a health care professional from a local religious community you trust addressed your concerns about the vaccine; a local religious community you trust held a forum to discuss the safety of the vaccine; a religious leader encouraged you to get the vaccine; a member of a local religious community you trust got the vaccine; and you could get the vaccine at a nearby religious congregation.

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Editor’s Note: The full report on the results of the PRRI-IFYC survey can be found online at https://bit.ly/3335uEj.

 

Vatican Nativity crèche inspired by Peru’s Andean region

By
Catholic News Service
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Statues of Joseph and Mary are pictured in the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square during a preview for journalists at the Vatican Dec. 9, 2021. The Nativity is from Peru's Huancavelica region and will be unveiled to the public Dec. 10 during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. (CNS photo/Junno Arocho Esteves)

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The representation of Peru’s diverse Indigenous communities in this year’s Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square embodies the joy and hope of their faith, said Peruvian Bishop Carlos Alberto Salcedo Ojeda of Huancavelica, Peru.

Bishop Salcedo joined Jorge Eduardo Román Morey, the Peruvian ambassador to the Vatican, and other Peruvians to show journalists around the Vatican Nativity scene Dec. 9.

In October, the Vatican City State governing office said the 30-piece Nativity scene from Peru’s Huancavelica region was chosen, in part, to mark the 200th anniversary of Peru’s independence.

Statues of Joseph and Mary, as well as the Three Kings, are dressed in the traditional bright, multicolored garments of the region’s Indigenous Chopcca people.

Unlike more traditional depictions of the Magi, trudging to Bethlehem with camels and gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, the Andean interpretation has them accompanied by llamas and bearing sacks of food from the region, including corn, quinoa and potatoes.

In front of the llamas, an angel, dressed in traditional Andean clothing, hails the birth of the Messiah by playing a flute in one hand while banging a drum with the other. Overlooking the Peruvian Nativity scene atop a tree is an Andean condor, the country’s national symbol, with its massive wings spread preparing to soar the heavens.

Bishop Salcedo told reporters the crèche “represents the Chopcca people’s faith in Jesus” as well as the hope they share “despite the difficulties, such as the pandemic as well as the other ‘pandemics,’ like poverty, corruption or the neglect of government authorities.”

The Peruvian bishop, who was appointed by Pope Francis in May to lead the Diocese of Huancavelica, said he continues “to learn from the hope and faith” of the Chopcca people which “helps me very much with the work that I am fulfilling at a pastoral level.”

“The people are happy and celebrate their faith with joy, and it is expressed in their community life,” he said. “That is something very beautiful, and as a new bishop, little by little, I am learning more.”

As Peru’s ambassador to the Vatican, Román told journalists the Nativity scene is “a representation of the richness of Peru’s culture.”

“It is an honor for Peru to be represented here in St. Peter’s Square this Christmas, after we, and the whole world, have been closed,” he said. “After two years, today we can be present, and being here in the square is a privilege for Peruvians.”

The garments as well as the multicultural characteristics of the statues in the Nativity scene, he added, are not only representative of Peru’s diversity but also a testament to the faith of the Chopcca people who “are a very great and fervently religious people who celebrate Christmas in a special way.”

The Chopcca people “observe the festivities with much devotion. So, what you see here is their interpretation of what the tradition of Christmas and the Nativity would be,” Román said.

The Vatican Nativity scene was to be unveiled the evening of Dec. 10, along with the lighting of the 90-foot-tall spruce tree. They will remain in the square through Jan. 9, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

 

More example than exhortation: Pope’s 2021 illustrated teaching on kinship

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Catholic News Service
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Pope Francis holds the hand of a man during a visit with refugees at the government-run Reception and Identification Center in Mytilene, Greece, Dec. 5, 2021. The pope has called attention to the dignity of migrants throughout his pontificate, encouraging the faithful to see them as brothers and sisters. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — From a vaccination clinic in the atrium of the Vatican audience hall to a visit to the ancient Iraqi city of Ur and later to a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, Pope Francis demonstrated throughout 2021 what he means by seeing all people as brothers or sisters.

Pope Francis issued his social encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship,” in October 2020, then proceeded to explain and apply it in 2021 in meetings with migrants and refugees, in hosting religious leaders making a plea to governments to act on climate change and in setting out his vision for a synod process that listens to and relies on the prayers of all Catholics.

In March, with representatives of Muslim, Christian, Yazidi and other religious communities in Iraq, Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to Ur, an archaeological dig on a dusty desert plain about 10 miles from modern-day Nasiriyah.

There, at the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham, the first person to believe in the one God and father of all, the pope called all believers to demonstrate their faith by treating one another as the brothers and sisters they are.

“From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters,” the pope said.

And meeting in Cyprus and in Greece with refugees and asylum-seekers, he called for individual action, national policies and international cooperation that would recognize each one of them as a member of the human family deserving of a helping hand.

“God loves us as his children; he wants us to be brothers and sisters,” the pope said Dec. 5 in the camp on the shore of the Mediterranean on the Greek island of Lesbos. “He is offended when we despise the men and women created in his image, leaving them at the mercy of the waves, in the wash of indifference.”

As in 2020, Pope Francis’ activities throughout the year were modified or impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the precautions needed to slow its spread and advocacy for greater access to vaccines for everyone.

In a public service announcement in August, Pope Francis had said, “Being vaccinated with vaccines authorized by the competent authorities is an act of love. And contributing to ensure the majority of people are vaccinated is an act of love — love for oneself, love for one’s family and friends, love for all people.”

In January and February, Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI got their two doses of the Pfizer vaccine; they both received their booster shots in October.

First in the atrium of the audience hall and later in the Charlemagne Wing under the colonnade in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican vaccinated not only its residents and employees, but also the residents of Vatican-owned shelters for the homeless and many of the people who regularly seek showers, barbers, doctors and food at the Vatican.

But a different health concern landed the pope in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for 10 days in July for colon surgery. The Vatican said the pope scheduled his operation to treat “a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.”

He underwent a three-hour surgery that included a left hemicolectomy, which is the removal of the descending part of the colon, a surgery that can be recommended to treat diverticulitis, when bulging pouches in the lining of the intestine or colon become inflamed or infected.

The only scheduled event Pope Francis skipped during his recovery was a Mass July 25 to mark the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. He had been released from the hospital July 14.

But the pandemic restrictions played more havoc with the papal schedule, forcing either the postponement of big events or a limit on attendance. In 2021, Pope Francis celebrated no Masses for the canonization of new saints, and he held no consistory to create new cardinals.

Even one of the largest celebrations of the year — a day of reflection Oct. 9 and a Mass Oct. 10 to launch the process leading to the assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2023 — included many key people participating virtually because of pandemic travel restrictions.

Vaccinated, and often masked, Pope Francis did some traveling of his own, visiting Iraq in March, Hungary and Slovakia in September and Cyprus and Greece in December, just two weeks before his 85th birthday Dec. 17.

He also hosted a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden in late October. The Vatican, citing COVID-19 restrictions, did not allow reporters into the Apostolic Palace for the visit, so the public record of the meeting consisted of a brief official statement from the Vatican and ad-lib comments from the president.

The meeting was an unusually long 90 minutes, including 75 minutes of private talks between the pope and president.

Officially climate change, the pandemic, migration, peace and human rights — including religious freedom — were the top topics.

Asked if abortion was one of the topics of his meeting with the pope, Biden told reporters, “We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving Communion.” The Vatican offered no comment on the president’s remarks.

Although Pope Francis issued no encyclicals or apostolic exhortations in 2021, he promulgated two documents that made headlines around the world: “Traditionis Custodes” (Guardians of the Tradition), restoring limits on the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass; and the revision of the Code of Canon Law’s “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church” particularly to incorporate changes made over the past 15 years to protect children, promote the investigation of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders.

The pope also showed some special attention to his “sisters” in the Lord, amending canon law to allow both women and men to be installed formally in the ministries of lector and acolyte; naming Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart one of two undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops; and appointing Sister Raffaella Petrini, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, to be the first female secretary-general of the office governing Vatican City State.

 

Our Lady of Fatima statue near national shrine in Washington vandalized

By
Catholic News Service
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A composite photo shows damage to a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that stands with the three shepherd children near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Dec. 8, 2021. The hands and nose of the statue of Mary were cut off and the cross on her crown was broken off. Shrine officials said that around 10:45 p.m. Dec. 5, the perpetrator got to the statue by climbing a locked fence that surrounds a rosary walk and garden that includes the statue. (CNS composite; photos by Tyler Orsburn)

By Julie Asher, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Days ahead of a major Marian feast day in the Catholic Church, a marble statue of Our Lady of Fatima near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was vandalized, with Mary’s hands and nose cut off, her face scratched and the cross on her crown broken off.

On Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a spokesman at the national shrine told Catholic News Service that around 10:45 p.m. Dec. 5, the perpetrator got to the statue by climbing a locked fence that surrounds a rosary walk and garden that includes the statue.

Video footage showed a masked person doing the damage, which was discovered the next morning. Police were investigating the vandalism.

“Though we are deeply pained by this incident, we pray for the perpetrator through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Fatima,” Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the national shrine, said in a statement.

The Fatima statue and the garden around it were completed in 2017, the 100th anniversary of Mary’s appearances to three shepherd children in a field near Fatima, Portugal, with her message that eucharistic prayer, recitation of the rosary and penance would save souls and bring peace to the world.

One on side of the national shrine’s garden is the white Carrara marble sculpture of Our Lady of Fatima with the three child-visionaries at her feet, Lucia dos Santos and Jacinta and Francisco Marto. On the opposite side is the crucified Christ, sculpted from the same kind of marble.

A paved walkway, symbolic of the thread connecting a rosary’s beads, circles through and around the garden, taking visitors past groupings of colorful mosaics that illustrate the 20 mysteries of the rosary.

On Sept. 23, 2017, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, blessed the new garden, walking to the Fatima statue, then around the path.

The blessing followed a Mass the bishop and other clergy concelebrated in the national shrine’s Upper Church for 2,000 pilgrims from the Diocese of Bridgeport, along with pilgrims from the Philippines and China, the New York area and the Washington region.

Our Lady of Fatima’s message about prayer, conversion and peace that she imparted in 1917 “is as important now as it has ever been since,” Bishop Caggiano said in his homily.

“We come here to ask for her intercession,” he said. “She might lead every human heart to answer the question, ‘What is it that you are looking for?’ And we will answer it: ‘We are looking for your Son, and lead us to him.'”

Four years later, the attack on the national shrine’s statue of Our Lady of Fatima became one of the latest attacks in dozens of incidents of arson, vandalism and other destruction that have taken place at Catholic sites across the United States since May 2020.

In an Oct. 14, 2021, news release, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty began tracking such incidents that May and by the time the release was issued, there had been 100 such incidents.

“These incidents of vandalism have ranged from the tragic to the obscene, from the transparent to the inexplicable,” the chairmen of the USCCB’s religious liberty and domestic policy committees said in a joint statement included in the release.

“There remains much we do not know about this phenomenon, but at a minimum, they underscore that our society is in sore need of God’s grace,” they said, calling on the nation’s elected officials “to step forward and condemn these attacks.”

“In all cases, we must reach out to the perpetrators with prayer and forgiveness,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty, and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

“Where the motive was retribution for some past fault of ours, we must reconcile; where misunderstanding of our teachings has caused anger toward us, we must offer clarity; but this destruction must stop. This is not the way,” they said.

“We thank our law enforcement for investigating these incidents and taking appropriate steps to prevent further harm,” Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Coakley said. “We appeal to community members for help as well. These are not mere property crimes — this is the degradation of visible representations of our Catholic faith. These are acts of hate.”

 

Restoration at Church of the Nativity shows what cooperation can do

By
Catholic News Service
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Restorer Zacharias Zacharoudis works on the Gabriel door from 1770 at a workshop in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec. 7, 2021. The restoration of the church required coordination involving more than 400 specialists and the need to maintain the liturgical schedule and to keep the doors open for pilgrims. (CNS photo/Debbie Hill)

By Judith Sudilovsky, Catholic News Service

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) — When restoration on the Church of the Nativity’s wooden beams and leaking roof began in 2013 with the blessing of the three custodial churches, everyone involved was aware of the historic significance of the venture. It was the first time in 540 years that any repair work was done on the church on the site where Jesus was born.

But what the team of workers — including local Palestinian committees and engineers and international restoration experts — did not know was the true impact of the initial ecumenical cooperation.

Historically the Franciscans, Greek Orthodox and Armenians jealously guarded their rights in the church, under the 1852 Status Quo agreement that regulates the ownership of spaces in various holy sites as well as the times and duration of religious liturgies. As recently as 2011, Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks came to blows over cleaning rights in a certain area in the church.

But with the leaking of the roof endangering the ancient structure, all agreed to undertake the necessary work.

And a new era began.

“Along the way the three churches noticed the good results that were coming from the cooperation and that it would be good to continue,” said Khouloud Daibes, the new executive director of the Bethlehem Development Foundation, which has raised $2.6 million out of the $15 million needed for the restoration of the entire church.

“At first it was just supposed to be the roof, but then we continued to do much, much more,” she said.

The project required coordination involving more than 400 specialists and the need to maintain the liturgical schedule and to keep the doors open for pilgrims, she said.

Imad Nasser, an engineer and technical representative of the Palestinian Presidential Committee for the Restoration of the Nativity Church, said safety requirements for visitors have been challenging, because the church remained opened throughout the restoration process.

After a process of extensive studies and negotiations, the project gradually grew to a more comprehensive endeavor and included restoration of Crusader-era frescos and wall and floor mosaics, which had been dulled by centuries of pilgrims burning candles and incense smoke; restoration of the outside facades; and restoration of the 50 marble columns inside the church, each one dedicated to a different saint.

Franciscan Father Ibrahim Faltas, representing the Custody of the Holy Land, told Catholic News Service: “This project has brought the three heads of churches closer and improved the relationship. In fact, the three heads of churches agreed to implement rehabilitation work at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. We hope that this cooperation will continue in the future.”

Claudette Habesch, a member of the presidential committee for the restoration, said the ability of the churches to come together with a shared goal of restoring and protecting the church is not only a symbol of hope for Christianity, but should be a message to all people of the Holy Land. She said it was in line with Pope Francis’ 2020 social encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” which urges people to act as neighbors for the common good, rejecting the creation of a society of exclusion.

“This is a great achievement. This goes beyond the physical achievements … not only for Christians but for everyone one who lives here,” Habesch said. “It gives us hope that we can also work on reconciliation and peace in this land.”

Dependent on donations mainly from supporters from abroad, the restoration project has been carried out in several phases, with the COVID-19 outbreak severely reducing the amount of funds available and slowing down work.

The remaining work includes a firefighting system, a micro climate system, and restoration of the grotto itself.

Mazen Karam, outgoing CEO of Bethlehem Development Foundation, said if all the needed funding were secured immediately, the entire project would be completed around 2023.

The project also encouraged the three churches to undertake restoration work on their own private sections of the church, he said, and so most of the entire complex has been restored.

Currently, on the initiative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, two art conservationists have been working on the Greek Orthodox chapel’s iconostasis, a wall of icons and religious paintings that separates the main part of the chapel from the sanctuary.

“It is a privilege to work here and watch the three different churches praying in one place. It is not an experience I could have in any other place,” said art restorer Zacharias Zacharoudis.

While most pilgrims are not yet able to come to Bethlehem, a traveling exhibit of the restoration project was inaugurated at the Vatican Museums in 2019 and is currently being shown in Cologne, Germany.

 

Knights’ documentary on St. Joseph now available to view online for free

By
Catholic News Service
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After a six-week run on ABC affiliates, the Knights of Columbus' documentary on St. Joseph -- "St. Joseph: Our Spiritual Father" -- is now available online to livestream for free as of Dec. 8, 2021. This depiction of St. Joseph cradling the infant Jesus while Mary sleeps is seen in a stained-glass window at St. Patrick Church in Smithtown, N.Y., in this 2017 photo. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) — The Knights of Columbus made its latest documentary, “St. Joseph: Our Spiritual Father,” available to view for free at kofc.org beginning Dec. 8 to coincide with the end of the “Year of St. Joseph.”

“St. Joseph teaches us that we really find ourselves when we live for others,” said Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus. “He models for each one of us the importance of prayer, obedience and courage in our lives.”

“The Knights of Columbus is very pleased to offer this inspiring documentary for all to watch and to discover in St. Joseph a powerful example and intercessor,” he said in a Dec. 7 statement.

Produced to increase devotion to the foster father of Jesus, protector of the Holy Family and patron of the Catholic Church, the film premiered on ABC affiliates across the United States this fall. After its six-week broadcast run, the Knights announced the film would be made available for viewing online.

It features reenactments, interviews with scholars “and inspiring witness stories” that provide an opportunity to learn about Joseph from a historical perspective and show “how devotion to him can be life-changing,” the Knights said in a news release.

Pope Francis had proclaimed a “Year of St. Joseph” from Dec. 8, 2020, to Dec. 8, 2021, to mark the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as patron of the universal church. The saint is held up as an example of sacrificial fatherhood and purity and as an intercessor in healing and fighting the world’s evils.

During this time marked by global crisis, St. Joseph can offer people support, consolation and guidance, Pope Francis said at his weekly general audience Nov. 17 in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall. Joseph is a man full of faith in God and his providence.

The name Joseph, which comes from the Hebrew verb, “to increase,” signifies “may God increase, may God give growth,” he said.

His name reveals an essential aspect of St. Joseph’s character: “He is a man full of faith in God, in his providence,” and everything he does indicates his certainty that God helps things grow, that God increases and adds, Pope Francis said.

The day’s audience talk was the first of a new series of talks the pope said he wanted to dedicate to St. Joseph in the hope of helping people “be enlightened by his example and by his witness.”

His 2020 apostolic letter, “Patris Corde” (“With a father’s heart”), which contained his reflections on the saint, launched the “Year of St. Joseph.”

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, the Knights’ supreme chaplain, issued a statement accompanying the Knights’ wide release of the fraternal order’s documentary on its website.

“In choosing Joseph to care with a father’s love for the incarnate Son of God,” he said, “the eternal Father recognized in St. Joseph a man of utmost integrity — a man who perhaps had no idea what God had in mind for him but nonetheless went about his daily life and work with honesty and reliability.”

 

Water a meter high: South Sudan bishop seeks help as floods continue

By
Catholic News Service
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Bishop Stephen Nyodho Ador Majwok of Malakal, South Sudan, and Msgr. Ionut Paul Strejac, chargé d'affaires at the Vatican Embassy in South Sudan, stand in Bentiu, where ongoing flooding has submerged buildings, homes and markets. Bishop Majwok has called for support, as floods continued to devastate his diocese, creating a complex web of challenges. (CNS photo/courtesy Bishop Majwok)

By Fredrick Nzwili, Catholic News Service

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — Bishop Stephen Nyodho Ador Majwok of Malakal, South Sudan, called for support as floods continued to devastate his diocese, creating a complex web of challenges.

Most areas of the diocese — one of the largest in the world’s youngest nation — are submerged, with the water rising to a height of one meter (39.5 inches), the bishop said.

“The situation is really bad. It’s that of a humanitarian emergency. The whole diocese, which covers three states — Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei — is affected,” Bishop Majwok told Catholic News Service in early December. “It’s a painful situation.”

At least 800,000 people are affected, according to the United Nations. Villages, homes, roads, farms and markets have been covered by water, forcing families to move to higher grounds where they can find safety. Some have moved to neighboring towns.

The country’s flood emergency is being linked to climate change, like in other East African nations, where unprecedented floods and storms are alternating with droughts, causing food emergencies and challenging people’s livelihoods in a region where they depend on farming and raising animals.

“The humanitarian response is ongoing, but it is inadequate to meet the diverse and compounded needs of the affected people,” said a November U.N. report.

In South Sudan, the disaster has struck when the country is facing the triple challenge of conflict, hunger and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At the moment, what is urgent is to save the people’s lives. Many are displaced and urgently need shelter, food and medicines,” said Bishop Majwok.

He explained that the previous time the region experienced similar flooding was in 1964, but it did not reach this level. Aid agencies were providing some relief, he said, but the flooding was overwhelming their capacity to help.

“A lot of work needs to be done. All roads have been closed by the floods. It means the only way to reach the area is by air. The airstrip is also threatened,” said the bishop.

In October, the Vatican sent $75,000 as an emergency response to the diocese. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said the support was intended to express Pope Francis’ closeness to the people.

South Sudan, a region with many Christians and followers of African traditional religions, gained independence from the mainly Islamic and Arab north in 2011. Two years later, a civil war began, forcing thousands to leave the country as refugees and leaving millions displaced within South Sudan.

A peace agreement signed last year ended the war. However, deadly waves of intercommunal violence still continue to ignite around the competition for grazing land.

But in a new twist, the bishop says the floods have brought a bit of peace in the region.

“I can say there is some calmness now except in a few pockets,” said the bishop. “There is an area where communities were fighting, but were forced to move to a higher ground by the floods. They had no choice but to live together. This is a reality.”

 

Look at the faces of migrants; help them, pope says

By
Catholic News Service
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A child is seen at the government-run Reception and Identification Center for refugees before Pope Francis' visit in Mytilene, Greece, Dec. 5, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The best way to overcome indifference to the suffering of migrants and refugees is to look in their faces, Pope Francis said.

“In Cyprus, as in Lesbos, (Greece), I was able to look into the eyes of this suffering. Please, let us look into the eyes of the discarded people we meet, let us be provoked by the faces of the children, children of desperate migrants,” the pope said Dec. 8 after reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

“Let us allow ourselves to be drawn into their suffering in order to react to our indifference; let us look at their faces, to awaken us from the sleep of habit,” the pope said.

With the Angelus prayer replacing his weekly general audience Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis used the opportunity to thank the governments and churches of Cyprus and Greece for their hospitality during his trip to the countries Dec. 2-6.

He also shared with the crowd in the square what he considered the highlights of his trip: his meetings with the heads of the Orthodox churches of the two countries and his meetings with migrants and refugees.

Pope Francis said he was particularly “moved” by Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus, who “spoke to me about the ‘mother church’: As Christians we follow different paths, but we are children of Jesus’ church, which is a mother, and accompanies and keeps us, that keeps us going, all as brothers and sisters.”

In Greece, he said, “I experienced the gift of embracing again” Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and all Greece, with whom he had visited the Greek island of Lesbos in 2016.

“I entrust to the holy Mother of God the many seeds of encounter and hope that the Lord has scattered on this pilgrimage,” the pope said, asking those in the square “to continue to pray that they may germinate in patience and flourish in trust.”

And while expressing sorrow over “the wound of barbed wire” that separates the northern, mainly Turkish Cypriot part of Cyprus from the mainly Greek Cypriot south, the pope prayed that encounter would prevail over confrontation.

But, with Cyprus hosting the most migrants per capita of any country in the European Union, he also prayed that it would be an example for all of welcoming “our brother and sister, especially when he or she is poor, discarded, a migrant.”

“Before the faces of those who emigrate, we cannot remain silent, we cannot turn away,” Pope Francis said.

 

In early morning darkness, pope pays tribute to Immaculate Conception

By
Catholic News Service
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Pope Francis prays at a tall Marian statue overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome Dec. 8, 2021, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters)

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) — An hour before sunrise, Pope Francis set a basket of white roses at the base of a statue of the Immaculate Conception in the center of Rome, praying Mary would help all who suffer.

“While it was still night,” the Vatican press office said Dec. 8, the pope prayed to Mary, “asking her for the miracle of a cure for the many people who are sick, for healing for people who are suffering so much because of wars and the climate crisis, and for conversion so that she would melt the stony hearts of those who build walls to keep the pain of others away.”

The pope arrived at Piazza di Spagna, near the Spanish Steps, at about 6:15 a.m., the press office said. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was the second year in a row that the pope made an unannounced, early morning visit to the statue to avoid drawing a crowd.

Pope Francis arrived, prayed and was gone even before a brigade of Rome firefighters had arrived to hang a wreath of flowers from the statue’s outstretched arms.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is a public holiday in Rome, and the pope’s usual late afternoon visit to the Spanish Steps normally draws thousands of people.

Before returning to the Vatican, the pope also stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray, the Vatican said.

At noon, Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square and spoke about Mary’s humility and the miracles God accomplishes through people who rely totally on him.

The Gospel reading for the feast is St. Luke’s account of the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and telling her she would be the mother of Jesus.

“The angel calls her ‘full of grace,'” the pope noted. “If she is full of grace, it means the Madonna is void of evil: She is without sin, immaculate.”

Pope Francis noted how instead of saying Mary was surprised by the angel’s greeting, she was “greatly troubled.”

“Mary does not credit prerogatives to herself, she does not hold claim to anything, she accounts nothing to her own merit,” the pope said. “She is not self-satisfied, she does not exalt herself. For in her humility, she knows she receives everything from God.”

“Mary Immaculate does not look on herself,” he said. “This is true humility: not looking on oneself but looking toward God and others.”

Pope Francis prayed that Mary would help all Christians understand that if they are humble and focused on God and on serving others, God can accomplish great things through them.

“May she enkindle enthusiasm in us for the ideal of sanctity which has nothing to do with holy cards and pictures but is about living humbly and joyfully what happens each day, freed from ourselves, with our eyes fixed on God and the neighbor we meet,” he said.

 

Texas bishops urge Biden to end impasse over health care funding for poor

By
Catholic News Service
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A stethoscope is seen in this illustration photo. (CNS photo/Regis Duvignau, Reuters)

By Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News Service

The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has asked President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to end a stalemate between state officials and the federal agency overseeing Medicaid payments that is threatening health care for low-income Texans.

Addressing what they described as “an urgent issue,” the prelates Dec. 3 sent the letters explaining that without an agreement covering reimbursements, “children, elderly, disabled residents and those living in poverty throughout our state risk losing access to critical care.”

The reimbursements ended Sept. 1 when an agreement between Texas and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, expired.

The impasse “also jeopardizes $10 billion that historically has supported our state’s Medicaid system,” the bishops wrote.

“Losing these funds in our poorest communities will fracture and devastate our safety net, incredibly, in the midst of a global pandemic that has already adversely affected the poor,” the letter said.

The leaders of all 15 Texas archdioceses and dioceses and the Houston-based Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter signed the letter in a sign of unified support for reinstating the health care support plan.

Jennifer Carr Allmon, executive director of the Texas bishops’ conference, told Catholic News Service, the cutoff of funding, now in its fourth month, threatens the ability of nongovernmental hospitals, including Catholic facilities, to provide the same amount of health care to people without traditional health insurance.

The lack of an agreement revolves around the question of how Texas pays for its share of care under Medicaid.

The question is rooted in a provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows states to expand Medicaid to people whose incomes are too high to be considered living in poverty, but still low enough that they cannot afford traditional health insurance.

Medicaid is a program jointly funded by federal and state governments. Under the program, the federal government pays states for a specific percentage of Medicaid expenditures. States must ensure that they can fund the remaining amount of such expenditures to receive federal support.

Texas declined to implement a formal Medicaid expansion under the ACA. By 2013, however, state legislators approved a plan whereby nongovernment hospitals were required to begin payments to Local Provider Participation Funds that provide the state’s share of health care costs for low-income people.

Multiple LPPFs are in place throughout the state. They provide funding for several supplemental and directed payment programs, such as uncompensated care.

All states but Alaska have implemented similar funding programs to provide the match to receive Medicaid funding to cover health care for low-income uninsured patients.

Allmon said CMS officials in the Obama and Trump administrations had approved the arrangement since it was implemented. However, this year CMS has objected to the state’s way of providing its share of funding through the LPPFs, leading to the current dilemma for hospitals.

Ascension Texas is one of the affected health care systems.

Geronimo Rodriguez, chief advocacy officer for the Austin-based health care provider, told Catholic News Service Dec. 7 that the amount of charitable health care the system delivers across its 100 facilities is unsustainable without a reimbursement agreement in place.

“We have to make sure we have the proper financing to maintain care of the poor and vulnerable,” Rodriguez explained.

Ascension Texas provides $540 million in charity care annually in addition to that which is reimbursed under Medicaid, Rodriguez said, explaining that without an agreement in place, “we’re not going to be sustainable over a long period of time.”

“There is some concern about the lack of an agreement because at the end of the day the only people that are going to suffer are those that need the care, poor and vulnerable people,” he added.

Negotiations between state officials and CMS are continuing.

A CMS spokesperson said in an email that the agency could not comment on pending litigation stemming from the stalemate.

Allmon said all members of the Texas congressional delegation also were contacted by the bishops’ conference and that support for resolving the issue has been bipartisan.

She also said the Catholic conference would prefer to see a Medicaid expansion program in place rather than current system.

“We would love to see that (Medicaid expansion),” Allmon told CNS. “But in the absence of that, this works and the poor are receiving care.”

She expressed particular concern for independent hospitals in outlying areas of the state that have limited financial reserves to cover uncompensated care for its poor patients.

“It’s really frustrating that the administration would be holding up that access,” Allmon said. “This is a classic example of the perfect being the enemy of the good. It may not be the most elegant system, but it is providing health care and health care access.”

 

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