Pope picks Filipino as Vatican envoy to UN

Hailing from Bohol, Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza becomes the first Filipino to represent the Vatican before the United Nations

MANILA, Philippines, Rapler – A Filipino will represent Vatican City in the United Nations (UN) after Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza as the city-state's new permanent representative to the organization.

Francis plucked Auza from his current post as the Vatican's apostolic nuncio (ambassador) to Haiti, Vatican Radio reported Tuesday, July 1.

A native of Talibon in Bohol, Auza becomes the first Filipino to represent the Vatican before the UN.

He replaces Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, an Indian-born prelate, who became the Vatican's permanent representative to the UN in 2010 under Pope Benedict XVI.

Auza's new job as permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN requires him to follow “attentively and with interest the work of the United Nations Organization.”

“In this forum, the Holy See Mission communicates the centuries’ experience of the Catholic Church to humanity, and places this experience at the disposal of the United Nations to assist it in its realization of peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance,” said the official website of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN.

The Rise of Catholicism in the Middle East where it was born! (Protestants and other non-Catholics should be thankful to the CATHOLIC CHURCH for paving the way to Religious Tolerance in the Persian Gulf)

The Proposed "Our Lady of Arabia Catholic Cathedral" in Bahrain [Photo Source: Hermit Brother Blog]

Religious Tolerance Surges in the Persian Gulf
Cathedral dedicated to Our Lady is being built.

BY VICTOR GAETAN, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER

AWALI, Bahrain — Over the last six years, religious tolerance has increased in the cradle of Islam, the Persian Gulf, according to clerics who live there as well as academic observers.
On May 31, a brick from St. Peter’s Basilica, which is being used as the foundation stone for the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali, Bahrain, was blessed by Bishop Camillo Ballin, apostolic vicar of northern Arabia.

The blessing ceremony marked the start of construction on a cathedral, pastoral center, guesthouse and car park — on land donated by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa — to serve the faithful in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

King Hamad met Pope Francis May 19 at the Vatican and presented the Holy Father with a red box containing a scale model of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, which will be the largest Catholic church in the Persian Gulf.

Driving this positive trend are the increased numbers of guest workers who are Christian — primarily from the Philippines and India — and initiatives by wealthy rulers to open up the region to the world.

Foreign workers in the Persian Gulf are employed mainly in construction, domestic service, energy and health care. "Immigration started when the oil was discovered, around 40 years ago. It is always increasing, for the necessity of manpower," Bishop Ballin, 70, explained to the Register via email.

And the numbers are mindboggling: In Qatar, for example, more than 1.3 million foreign nationals work for a Qatari population of only 280,000 citizens. Kuwait has about the same number of visiting workers but a larger local population of 2.2 million.

Bishop Ballin said more than 350,000 expatriates in both Qatar and Kuwait are Catholic, about evenly divided between Indians and Filipinos.

Cardinal Zen: the absurdity of an atheist government that wants to lead the Catholic Church

Chinese Catholics need a strong backbone from the Church. True to his calling, Cardinal Zen becomes the voice of the voiceless for Chinese Catholics who are being persecuted for their unwavering faith. Atheist government like China has no legitimate mandate to lead a Church for God. Let us pray together for our Chinese brethren and remember them in our daily Masses. Individually let us consecrate China to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that China may find its fate like the former USSR. Let the Church of Christ built on a high mountain and proclaim his glory! Let the Catholic Church live in China. - CD2000

Cardinal Zen

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - These last few days, Catholic faithful inside and outside China have noted with sadness and indignation words pronounced by Mr. Liu bainian, Rev. Guo Jinchai, Rev. Fan xxxx and Rev. Yang yu, which are hardly distinguishable from being schismatic. But today’s statement by the Religious Affairs Bureau has reached the extreme of absurdity.

We may understand if the government come out to defend their puppets by saying that they are politically correct, or to praise their courage in resisting foreign pressure; but now they come out to praise their “ardent catholic faith”, and to say that the ordinations without papal mandate are necessary for “the normal running of the Church and for the needs of pastoral and evangelizing activity”. This is absolutely preposterous and ridiculous! As recently some scholars have pointed out, the government now is “running” the Catholic Church.

Are they blind? Have they not had chance to see how the Catholic Church works in the rest of the world? Does the special situation of China force the government to run a Church which simply can no more be recognizable as catholic? They are making themselves the laughing stock of the world!

Vatican officials express hopes for Egypt's future

Photo Source: OnPoint

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's ambassador to Egypt said he hoped the country's future would include greater social justice and greater freedom for all of the country's people.

In an interview with Vatican Radio Feb. 11, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald said he hoped the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is running Egypt, would follow the direction of constitutional reform and "will also respond to the other demands of the population with regard to social justice and with regard to political liberties as well."

Archbishop Fitzgerald, the Vatican nuncio in Cairo, said that even before President Hosni Mubarak resigned Feb. 11, the Egyptian leader had given his vice president the task of studying various articles of the constitution with a view of amending them in response to protesters' demands for greater democracy.

Mubarak's promises of reform were not enough for protesters, and he was forced to hand over power to the military and step down.

FINAL MESSAGE OF SYNOD FOR MIDDLE EAST

VATICAN CITY, 23 OCT 2010 (VIS) - During yesterday's Thirteenth General Congregation of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, the Synod Father's approved their Final Message.

Extracts from the English-language version of the Message are given below:

I. THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE EAST: COMMUNION AND WITNESS THROUGHOUT HISTORY. THE JOURNEY OF FAITH IN THE MIDDLE EAST

"The first Christian community was born in the Middle East. From there, the Apostles after Pentecost went out to evangelise the whole world. ... We are now at a turning point in our history: The God Who gave us the faith in our Eastern lands 2000 years ago, calls us today to persevere with courage, strength and steadfastness in bearing the message of Christ and witnessing to His Gospel, the Gospel of love and peace".

"Today we face many challenges. ... What Christ asks from our Churches is to strengthen communion within every 'sui iuris' Church, and between the Catholic Churches of different traditions, and to exert every effort in prayer and charitable acts in order to attain the full unity of all Christians".

41 Propositions of Mideast Synod

Photo Source: AsiaNews

Addresses Identity of Christians, Migration, Dialogue

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 24, 2010 (EWTN / Zenit.org).- Here is the unofficial Vatican translation of the 41 propositions of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops on the theme The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness."

Ahmadinejad’s message delivered to Pope Benedict XVI

TEHRAN, Oct. 6 (MNA) – Vice President Mohammad Reza Mirtajoddini delivered President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s message to Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican on Tuesday.

Mirtajoddini, a cleric who serves as presidential aide for parliamentary affairs, also met with the chairpersons of the foreign policy committees of Italy’s senate and parliament.

The two sides discussed issues of mutual interests as well as regional and international cooperation.

Mirtajoddini also called for the expansion of ties between the two countries in all areas.

Holy See established Full Diplomatic Ties with Russia

EWTN/CNA - Just under two weeks ago Russian officials accepted the credentials of Archbishop Antonio Mennini as the first papal nuncio to their country. The event ushers in a new era of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Russian Federation.

The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano (LOR) newspaper reported that Foreign Affairs minister Sergei Lavrov met with Archbishop Mennini on July 15 in Moscow to seal full diplomatic relations, which Pope Benedict XVI and president Dmitry Medvedev had agreed to last December. Just a month ago, on June 26, the Holy See accepted the credentials of Mr. Nikolai Sadlichov as ambassador from Russia.

The Russian vice minister for foreign affairs, Alexandr Krusko, welcomed the nuncio on behalf of President Dmitry Medvedev and highlighted the increasing "spirit of harmony and cooperation" between the Holy See and Russia in recent years, according to LOR.

The Vatican paper added that "the vice minister hoped for an even more fruitful collaboration on the great moral and ethical challenges that are posed to man today."

During the ceremony, Archbishop Mennini assured his dedication to the strengthening of relations between the two sides and his commitment to the "spiritual and moral growth of the people of Russia."

The Holy See and Russia have maintained limited diplomatic relations since 1990, after the fall of the USSR, but had not formally exchanged ambassadors until now. The decision was made on Dec. 3, 2009, when, after meeting with the Pope at the Vatican, President Medvedev asked his Foreign Affairs department to pursue full diplomatic ties for the first time.