Vatican & World News at 4.30pm

The fundamental dogma, on which everything in Christianity is based, is that of the Blessed Trinity in whose name all Christians are baptized. The feast of the Blessed Trinity needs to be understood and celebrated as a prolongation of the mysteries of Christ and as the solemn expression of our faith in this triune life of the Divine Persons, to which we have been given access by Baptism and by the Redemption won for us by Christ. Only in heaven shall we properly understand what it means, in union with Christ, to share as sons in the very life of God.

DUBLIN – Voters in Ireland have opted to remove the right to life of the unborn from the country's constitution, paving the way for abortion on demand up to 12 weeks.

With votes counted from 30 of Ireland's 40 constituencies, results from the nationwide referendum showed that 67.3 per cent of citizens opted to remove the Eighth Amendment from the constitution, while 32.7 per cent voted to retain it. Turnout was 64.5 per cent.

Voters inserted the original amendment in the constitution in 1983 by a margin of 2-1, and it "acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right."

That text will now be deleted and replaced with an article stating that "provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy."

Minister for Health Simon Harris has said he would introduce legislation that would allow abortion on demand up to 12 weeks, up to 24 weeks on unspecified grounds for the health of the mother, and up to birth where the child is diagnosed with a life-limiting condition that means he or she may not live long after birth.

An exit poll conducted by the Ireland's national broadcaster RTE asked voters what motivated them to opt for either "yes" or "no." Among "yes" voters, the most important issues were the right to choose (84 per cent), the health or life of the woman (69 per cent), and pregnancy as a result of rape (52 per cent).

Among "no" voters, they cited the right to life of the unborn (76 per cent), the right to live of those with Down syndrome or other disabilities (36 per cent), and religious views (28 per cent).

John McGuirk, spokesman for Save the Eighth, which campaigned for a "no" vote, described the outcome as "a tragedy of historic proportions."

"The Eighth Amendment did not create a right to life for the unborn child – it merely acknowledged that such a right exists, has always existed and will always exist," he said, insisting that "a wrong does not become right simply because a majority support it."

"We are so proud of all of those who stood with us in this campaign – our supporters, our donors, our families and our loved ones," he said. "This campaign took a huge personal toll on all of us who were involved, and we have been so grateful for their support."

Insisting that pro-life campaigners will continue their efforts, McGuirk told Catholic News Service: "Shortly, legislation will be introduced that will allow babies to be killed in our country. We will oppose that legislation. If and when abortion clinics are opened in Ireland, because of the inability of the government to keep their promise about a (general-practitioner-led health) service, we will oppose that as well.

"Abortion was wrong yesterday. It remains wrong today. The constitution has changed, but the facts have not," he said.

Ruth Cullen of the LoveBoth campaign insisted that the organization will try to ensure that the Irish prime minister, or Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is true to his pledge that the government will work to ensure that abortions are rare.

No matter what happens in the coming days, weeks and months, our work will continue to protect unborn babies and their mothers #LoveBoth #WeWillOvercome

— LoveBoth (Official) (@loveboth8) May 26, 2018

"We will hold the Taoiseach to his promise that repeal would only lead to abortion in very restrictive circumstances. He gave his word on this, now he must deliver on it. No doubt many people voted for repeal based on the Taoiseach's promises in this regard," she said.

Commenting on the campaign, Cullen said: "We are immensely proud and grateful to all our volunteers throughout the country who worked tirelessly over recent months to ensure unborn babies would not be deprived of legal protections.

"The campaign to protect unborn babies will endure," she said.

Eamonn Conway, a theologian at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, told Catholic News Service he was "greatly saddened" by the result. However, he pointed out that "the truth is that the Irish Constitution merely recognized the right to life that is antecedent to all law. This most fundamental of all human rights is not extinguished or diminished because our constitution no longer acknowledges it. What is diminished is our constitution," he said.

Conway said he believes "the task facing the Catholic Church now is to ensure that it makes every effort to accompany with the healing compassion of Christ everyone caught up in the tragic circumstances that surround an abortion ... from grieving parents to medical practitioners."

Archbishop Eamon Martin, primate of All-Ireland, was expected to address the referendum outcome during a homily at the country's national Marian shrine at Knock, County Mayo, May 27.

“Abortion was wrong yesterday. It remains wrong today," states the Save the 8th campaign. "The constitution has changed, but the facts have not...” [...]

Vatican & World News at 4.30pm

After lengthy negotiations with the Vatican, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has curated a 26-gallery show that celebrates the ways in which Catholic imagery has inspired fashion. But the exhibit is fundamentally about what drives creativity.

Scripture for Life: As people chosen and loved by God, we are called to fulfill our vocation as disciples and missionaries, followers of Christ who spread his message and love. Like the early disciples, we must be willing to rethink our mission and revitalize our Gospel message.

According to some Catholic thinkers, the sheer size, influence and global reach of the Catholic Church, combined with the popularity of Pope Francis, position it to play an outsized role in shaping future conversations about AI. 

St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) was born in Florence and died in Rome. He lived a spotless childhood in Florence. Later he came to Rome and after living for fifteen years as a pilgrim and hermit was ordained a priest. He gradually gathered around him a group of priests and established the Congregation of the Oratory. He was a man of original character and of a happy, genial and winning disposition. A great educator of youth, he spent whole nights in prayer, had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and burned with an unbounded love for mankind. He died on the feast of Corpus Christi.

If our response to real or perceived injustice is itself uncivil, are we actually promoting positive cultural change? [...]

VATICAN – Implementation of Pope Francis' abbreviated process for declaring the nullity of a marriage got off to a slow start, Vatican statistics showed, but his encouragement for making the annulment process free for petitioners fared better.

Many dioceses in the United States and Canada already had been subsidizing all or part of the costs involved in the process when, in 2015, Pope Francis issued documents reforming part of the annulment processes. The documents were: "Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus" ("The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge") for the Latin-rite church and "Mitis et Misericors Iesus," ("The Meek and Merciful Jesus") for the Eastern Catholic churches.

The documents encouraged bishops to fully fund their marriage tribunals and not charge petitioners "so that, in a matter so closely tied to the salvation of souls, the church -- by demonstrating to the faithful that she is a generous mother -- may demonstrate the gratuitous love of Christ, which saves us all."

Pope Francis, in the same documents, introduced an abbreviated process by which a diocesan bishop can issue a declaration of nullity.

The Vatican's Statistical Yearbook 2016, completed in February and recently published, reported that over the course of the year, about 33.7 percent of the nullity cases handled around the world were handled at no charge to the person petitioning; in 23.3 percent of the cases, the person was asked to cover some of the tribunal costs of his or her case; and in about 42.8 percent of the cases, the petitioner covered all the costs.

Ten years earlier, the Statistical Yearbook 2006 reported only about 23.3 percent of cases were handled free of charge, 30.3 percent of cases included a partial charge and, in 46.3 percent of the cases, the petitioners were asked to cover the full cost.

In the country-by-country breakdown, the yearbook reported that in 2016, fully 50 percent of annulment requests in the United States were handled for free; 20.8 percent of cases in the United States involved a partial charge and about 29 percent included a full charge.

The dioceses of Canada reported in 2016 that about 40.7 percent of their cases were handled free of charge, 40.1 percent involved a partial payment and 19 percent included a full charge to the petitioner.

The new rules issued by Pope Francis in 2015 empowered a bishop to issue a decree of nullity when certain conditions are evident, for example, when it is clear one or both parties lacked the faith to give full consent to a Catholic marriage, or when physical violence was used to extort consent for the marriage.

Of the more than 50,000 marriage cases handled by the church worldwide in 2016, the yearbook said, fewer than 1,700 involved what the book described as the "briefer process before the bishop," and only 1,118 of the cases were completed during the year.

Bishops in the Americas -- North, Central and South -- were responsible for clearing more than half of the completed cases. Of those, 289 were reported in the United States and 18 in Canada. Bishops in Asia completed 200 abbreviated cases while the bishops of Europe completed 196 cases. No cases were reported from Australia or New Zealand.

Mumbai, India -- Upset that a Catholic archbishop is urging prayer and fasting ahead of national elections, Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end India's relations with the Vatican and close the apostolic nunciature in New Delhi.

In the aftermath of Iraq's elections, Christians want to see a government formed that is free from the sectarianism that has torn apart the country, and they want Iran's influence to diminish. Both issues have played a huge role in politics since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. 

Listen: NCR's Joshua J. McElwee and Fr. Jim Connell of Catholic Whistleblowers discuss recent news developments in Chile, including the resignation of 34 of the country's bishops.

My mental picture of Memorial Day in 1945 is a spare but deeply etched scene of joy and tears. Tears of loss mingled with sighs of relief that soon all the killing would stop.

The Catholic League has been at odds with Connecticut Supreme Court Judge Andrew McDonald since he was a state senator. More recently, we worked to educate the public about his record of anti-Catholic bigotry, hoping to stop his bid to become Chief Justice. We won. He was defeated on March 27 in the state senate [...]

The Obamacare Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate forcing Catholic non-profits to provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, was recently dealt a lethal blow by U.S. District Court Judge David Russell. He issued a permanent injunction stopping the federal government from enforcing the mandate against the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA). He also issued [...]

William A. Donohue On February 22, we lost a good one. Dolores Grier was one of the most committed Catholics I ever met, and one of the nation's strongest defenders of the rights of the unborn. She was especially outraged over the high number of African American abortions, as well as those who peddled the [...]

Ronald J. Rychlak Vittorio Messori, Kidnapped by the Vatican? The Unpublished Memoirs of Edgardo Mortara (Ignatius Press 2017) On Wednesday June 23, 1858, a knock came on the door of Salomone and Marianna Mortara, Jewish residents of Bologna, the second-largest city of the Papal States. Marianna answered; it was the police. "Your son Edgardo has [...]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo included the Child Victims Act in his budget this year and he failed. It was pulled from the final budget. He said he hopes it will succeed legislatively, and if that fails, he hopes to make it a campaign issue in November. This is a victory for those who believe [...]