CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: TUES. JAN. 4, 2011- headlines-
ASIA: PAKISTAN: GOVERNOR KILLED WHO SOUGHT BIBI PARDON
AUSTRALIA: CARDINAL PELL CAUTIONS VOTING FOR POLITICIANS WHO DISREGARD CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES
AFRICA: NIGERIA: PILGRIMS DENIED ACCESS TO HOLY LAND
AMERICA: USA: AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY HOLDS PASTOR WORKSHOP
EUROPE: POLAND: STAR SINGERS COLLECT MONEY FOR UGANDA`S
TODAY'S SAINT: JAN. 4: ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON
Appointed Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz of Brasilia, Brazil, as prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. He succeeds Cardinal Franc Rode C.M., whose resignation from the same office the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Bombay, India, presented by Bishop Percival Joseph Fernandez, upon having reached the age limit.
IMAGE SOURCE: DAYLIFE.COM
ASIA: PAKISTAN: GOVERNOR KILLED WHO SOUGHT BIBI PARDON
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Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, was assassinated today by a member of his security detail at a popular market in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. His assassin, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, said he killed him because the governor had described the blasphemy law as a "black law".
Unlike other Pakistani leaders, Taseer had openly opposed the blasphemy law. He had recently called on President Zardari to grant a pardon to Asia Bibi, a Christian woman from Punjab sentenced to death after she was accused of blasphemy.
“He has confessed his crime and surrendered his gun to police after the attack,” Interior Minister Rahman Malik said about the assassin, explaining that he is a police officer from Rawalpindi and had been recently added to the governor’s staff. This was the third time he worked in the security detail.
President Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani and other political leaders condemned the murder. Various human rights groups expressed their gratitude to Taseer for his efforts towards the abolition of the blasphemy law and for his defence of Asia Bibi’s life.
In the meantime, police is on high alert fearing more attacks against government officials and political leaders.
AUSTRALIA: CARDINAL PELL CAUTIONS VOTING FOR POLITICIANS WHO DISREGARD CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES
HERALD SUN REPORT:AUSTRALIA'S senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has denounced Catholic politicians who defy church teachings on controversial issues.
With debate over euthanasia and gay marriage looming in 2011, Cardinal Pell used an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun to rebuke MPs who "fly under the Christian or Captain Catholic flag" but "blithely disregard Christian perspectives" when they vote in parliament on moral issues.
"If a person says, 'Look, I'm not a Christian, I've a different set of perspectives', I disagree but I understand," the Archbishop of Sydney said.
"If a person says to me, 'Look, I'm nominally a Christian but it sits lightly with me', I understand that.
"But it's incongruous for somebody to be a Captain Catholic one minute, saying they're as good a Catholic as the Pope, then regularly voting against the established Christian traditions."
He said citing primacy of conscience in support of views was "OK, but if you're espousing something that's not a Christian position, don't claim Christian backing for that".
He said: "To the extent that on a significant number of issues you depart from Christian teachings you know it's incongruous to be billing yourself as a champion of Christian rights. And the Catholic Church doesn't teach the primacy of conscience. You know if somebody said apartheid was all right, nobody would say, 'Yes you can say that because of the primacy of conscience'."
Cardinal Pell also hit out at Greens leader Bob Brown, who claimed the church was out of step with mainstream Catholics on gay marriage and other issues.
He said he was confident the Greens' move to get Federal Parliament to pass a pro-euthanasia Bill would not succeed.
"I'm not telling people how to vote," he said. "I'm telling people how I think they should vote. I'm an Australian citizen and I have as much right to do that as any other citizen."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/pells-blast-for-defiant-politicians/story-fn6bfmgc-1225980210199
IMAGE REPORT:
AFRICA: NIGERIA: PILGRIMS DENIED ACCESS TO HOLY LAND
ALL AFRICA REPORT- IT was a bad New Year day for some over 1,000 Nigerian pilgrims performing the 2010 pilgrimage to the holy land in Israel as the Israeli authority, Saturday, shut its border against those entering the country from Egypt over a bomb scare which turned to be a false alarm.
The Nigerians had left Jerusalem for Mount Sinai enroute Eilat, an Israeli border town through Taba, an Egyptian border town to St. Catherine, the sparsely populated community where the holy site of Mount Sinai and the Burning Bush were located.The Nigerians who are one of the many batches performing the exercise, include pilgrims from the Federal Capital Territory, Taraba, River, Yobe, Kwara, Delta and Oyo states as well as members of the Federal Government officials but had to leave for Mount Sinai, one of the holy site located in the neighbour country of Egypt.
The pilgrims had arrived the Egyptian-Israeli border post at Taba at1:10 pm for the border routine check, after a lunch at Nuweiba another Egyptian town located between St. Catherine and Taba, when the incident occurred.
Egyptian security operatives
The Nigerian Christians who were in eight different luxurious buses had been swiftly checked by the Egyptian security operatives from the Egypt's end of the border, in less than 30 minutes.
But, the unexpected happened, after about 45 Nigerian travellers had began the screening process with the Israeli authority on the country's side of the border, when the international passage was hurriedly shut down to prevent the pilgrims from gaining access.
Precisely, at exactly 1:53pm there was a very loud alarm, from the Israeli part of the border, and suddenly the country's security personnel were seen rushing to close both the vehicular and human passage; and within a minute, the entire border was cordoned-off with the Israelis deserting their duty-post and leaving for more secured rooms at the border.
And for more than 30 minutes the Nigerians including the young and old people who had queued in a very long line that stretched to the Egyptian end of the border, stood helplessly in the sun without explanation from the Israeli official, as the border remained closed.
The few Nigerians who had passed some check points after being screened by Israel were swiftly sent back to the Egypt's part of the border, perhaps for a more thorough check, but there was no official explanation, as the Israelis were heard through the loud speakers engaged in communication.
Reprieve, however, came the way of the stranded Nigerians who obviously became apprehensive when after over 30 minutes inexplicable silence, an Israeli female official alerted from the secured enclave and opened the gates.
But despite the resumption of operation by the Israelis, it took the exhausted Nigerians additional two hours to leave the border post which is sited by the bank of the Red Sea, which is surrounded by Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Investigation by Vanguard revealed that what led to the sudden closure of the border was a bomb scare alert which followed the notice of an unclaimed luggage by Nigerian pilgrims who had began the check, before the border was shut.
It was learnt that a Rev. Fr (names withheld) from River State had upon discovery that the bag he was holding was not actually his, had drop the luggage to search for his, at the Egyptian end of the border.
At all the holy sites, the pilgrims have been praying for the peace and unity of the country, while special prayers are being offered for the country's political leaders, particularly, President Goodluck Jonathan.
EDITED FROM http://allafrica.com/stories/201101040647.html
AMERICA: USA: AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY HOLDS PASTOR WORKSHOP
EUROPE: POLAND: STAR SINGERS COLLECT MONEY FOR UGANDA`S POOR
TODAY'S SAINT: JAN. 4: ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton | |||||||||||||
FOUNDRESS AND FIRST SUPERIOR OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY | |||||||||||||
Feast: January 4 | |||||||||||||
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TODAY'S GOSPEL: JAN. 4: MARK: 6: 34-44
| Mark 6: 34 - 44 | |
| 34 | As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. |
| 35 | And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late; |
| 36 | send them away, to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat." |
| 37 | But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?" |
| 38 | And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." |
| 39 | Then he commanded them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass. |
| 40 | So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. |
| 41 | And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. |
| 42 | And they all ate and were satisfied. |
| 43 | And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. |
| 44 | And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. |
