The Archbishop of Kisumu Archdiocese, Zacchaeus Okoth has spoken to MISNA, the Missionary Service News Agency, about Obama’s visit to his ancestral home in Kenya. “Young, intelligent, it was evident that he would go places. Now that he is the President of the United States we still feel he is one of us and we welcome him with open arms,” Archbishop Zacchaeus Okoth said to MISNA as he reminisced about a meeting and a handshake outside the home of Mama Sarah in 2006. In 2006, Barack Obama landed at the Kisumu airport on Lake Victoria. With Archbishop Okoth and Obama’s step grandmother, who yesterday, Friday at the age of 94 flew to Nairobi to say “Nyakwara”, “grandson” in the Luo language, had then gone to his father’s village of Kogelo. Kogelo is a village inhabited by 4,000, just Kim from Lake Victoria and 300Km west of Nairobi. Archbishop Okoth remembers the young successful Illinois senator then headed towards the democratic primaries that two years later would throw open the doors of the White House. “Since his visit everything changed in Kogelo: Maybe also thanks to Obama there are now tarmac roads and electric power,” explained the Archbishop. The people of Kogelo today are however a little more anxious. “There is no mention in the programme of a visit to Kogelo, and the US Ambassador to Kenya excluded a surprise visit,” said Archbishop Okoth. The people however have not lost hope in a President “who is one of us.” “No matter what CNN says with its coverage describing the country as a ‘hotbed of terrorism,’ Kenyans are simply enthusiastic: They believe Obama will help them fight al Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant Islamist group as well as help build a future of development,” stressed the Archbishop. Obama is in Kenya for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. He has since addressed the business summit and praised Africa’s economic and business potential. The BBC quoted Obama as saying, “Africa is on the move… People are being lifted out of poverty, incomes are up (and) the middle class is growing,” Obama told a business summit. (Source: MISNA, BBC) Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See has renewed its call for international cooperation to bring to an end the conflicts in the Middle East and help care for the millions of refugees from Iraq and the Syrian war.
In a speech to the United Nations Security Council during an open debate Thursday on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian, question,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, said the “dramatic humanitarian situation” in Syria is “particularly preoccupying.”
Calling for a renewed commitment by all to achieve a political solution to the conflict, he said “we should not continue to look helplessly from the sidelines while a great country is being destroyed.”
He described the so-called Islamic State group terrorizing the region as a “terrorist plague” that must be thwarted with the unified cooperation of the entire international community.
Lebanon and Jordan, which host millions of refugees, he added, bear the brunt of the Syrian conflict and urgently need the world’s solidarity.
He noted the Holy See’s hopes that the institutional vacuum of Lebanon’s Presidency (constitutionally held by a Christian but vacant for more than a year) will soon be filled.
He reiterated the Holy See’s concern for the region’s minority communities, particularly its Christians, who have been forced from their homes and welcomed the recent accord reached between Iran and the 5+1 group of nations.
Recalling the Comprehensive Agreement signed by the Holy See and the State of Palestine in June, Archbishop Auza said it is hoped that the Agreement will stimulate the “achievement of a two State solution, bringing a definitive end to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Below please find the official text of Archbishop Auza’s remarks:
New York, 23 July 2015
Mr President,
My Delegation congratulates you on New Zealand’s Presidency of the Security Council this month and commends you for convening this timely open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question.”
The Holy See continues to monitor closely the situation in the Middle East, which is deeply afflicted by various conflicts that continue to intensify. Unfortunately, the international community, which seems to have become accustomed to these conflicts, has not yet succeeded in working out an adequate response.
Particularly preoccupying is the situation in Syria, where the dramatic humanitarian situation affecting more than half of the population calls for renewed commitment by all in order to arrive at a political solution to the conflict. We should not continue to look helplessly from the sidelines while a great country is being destroyed. The situation in Syria requires putting aside many particular interests in order to prioritise those of Syria and of the Syrians themselves.
In Syria as well as in Iraq, we continue to be gravely concerned about the terrorist acts perpetrated by the so-called “Islamic State.” This is a challenge not only for the region but for the entire international community, which is called upon to cooperate with unity of purpose in order to thwart this terrorist plague, which is expanding its activities into different countries.
Having to take care of millions of refugees, Lebanon and Jordan also bear the brunt of the conflict in neighbouring Syria. They urgently need the solidarity of the whole international community.
The Holy See hopes that the Land of the Cedars will be able to resolve, as soon as possible, this period of institutional instability, arising largely from the vacancy for over a year now of the Presidency of the Republic.
While being aware of the sufferings of entire populations, I wish to point out the difficulties that Christians and other minority ethnic and religious groups are experiencing, forcing many of them to leave their homes. The diminution of the Christian presence is a grave loss for the entire region, where Christians have been present since the very beginnings of Christianity and where they wish to continue cooperating with their fellow citizens in building harmonious societies and working for the common good, as promoters of peace, reconciliation and development.
My delegation wishes to express appreciation for the agreement which has been reached between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the 5+1 group.
On June 26 this year, the Holy See and the State of Palestine signed the Comprehensive Agreement that follows the Basic Agreement between the Holy See and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) of 15 February 2000. This Agreement is indicative of the progress made by the Palestinian Authority in recent years, above all in the level of international upport it has acquired, as exemplified by UN Resolution 67/19, which, inter alia, recognizes Palestine as a non-member Observer State.
The Holy See hopes that this Agreement may in some way be a stimulus to the achievement of the two-State solution, bringing a definitive end to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict that continues to cause suffering on both Parties, and that the Agreement may offer, within the complex reality of the Middle East, a good example of dialogue and cooperation.
As Pope Francis said during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land last year: “The time has come for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative in the service of the common good, the courage to forge a peace that rests on the acknowledgment by all of the right of two States to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognized orders.”1
In this context, my delegation wishes to reiterate that the peace process can move forward only if it is directly negotiated between the Parties, with the support of the international community.
Thank you, Mr. President.
1 Meeting with Palestinian Authorities, Bethlehem, 25 May 2014.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday confirmed more members and substitutes for the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place from October 4-25, 2015, under the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world.”
For a listing of other members and substitutes confirmed for the Synod on the Family, see our previous posts on 26 March and 16 June .
The following is a list of the members and substitutes appointed by the competent entities and ratified by the Holy Father on 24 July.
AFRICA
Ivory Coast
Member : Bishop Ignace BESSI DOGBO, of Katiola, President of the National Episcopal Commission for the Apostolate of the Laity
Guinea
Member : Bishop Juan MATOGO OYANA, C.M.F., of Bata
Sudan
Member : Archbishop Paulino LUKUDU LORO, M.C.C.J., of Juba
Substitute : Bishop Michael Didi Adgum MANGORIA, of El Obeid
Zimbabwe
Member : Bishop Xavier Johnsai MUNYONGANI, of Gweru
AMERICA
Paraguay
Member : Bishop Miguel Ángel CABELLO ALMADA, of Concepción in Paraguay
Substitute : Bishop Pierre Laurent JUBINVILLE, C.S.Sp., of San Pedro
ASIA
India
2nd Substitute : Bishop Lawrence Pius DORAIRAJ, of Dharmapuri
Iran
Member : Archbishop Ramzi GARMOU, of Teheran of the Chaldeans, Patriarchal Administrator of Ahwaz of the Chaldeans
Substitute : Titular Archbishop Neshan KARAKÉHÉYAN, of Adana of the Armenians, Patriarchal Administrator of Ispahan, Esfáan of the Armenians
Thailand
Member : Bishop Silvio Siripong CHARATSRI, of Chanthaburi
Substitute : Archbishop Louis CHAMNIERN SANTISUKNIRAN, of Thare and Nonseng
East Timor
Member : Bishop Basílio DO NASCIMENTO, of Baucau, President of the Bishop’s Conference
Substitute : Bishop Norberto DO AMARAL, of Maliana
EUROPE
International Bishops’ Conference of the Saints Cyril and Methodius
Member : Bishop Ladislav NEMET, S.V.D., of Zrenjanin in Serbia
Latvia
Member : Archbishop Zbignevs STANKEVIČS, of Riga
Substitute : Bishop Jānis BULIS, of Rēzekne-Aglona, President of Bishop’s Conference
Scandinavia
Member : Bishop Teemu SIPPO, S.C.I., of Helsinki in Finland
Substitute : Bishop Czeslaw KOZON, of Copenhagen in Denmark
OCEANIA
Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Member : Bishop Anton BAL, of Kundiawa, “Commission for Family Life”
(from Vatican Radio)…
More than
300,000 postcards will be distributed to parishioners in England and Wales this
weekend offering guidance about end of life decisions. This initiative is part
of the day for Life celebration to be held on Sunday, 26 July. For this Day,
Pope Francis sent his best wishes and support to the Catholic Church in England
and Wales. The Apostolic Nuncio in Great Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, received a letter and
conveyed it to the Bishop for Day for Life, Bishop John Sherrington, Auxiliary
of Westminster. In the letter, the Holy Father imparts his
apostolic blessing “upon
all those persons who are participating in this significant event and working
in any way for the promotion of the dignity of every human person from the
moment of conception until natural death”. This Sunday is the last of the
various initiatives of the Catholic Church in England regarding end of life
topics. The Bishops chose “Cherishing Life – Accepting
Death” as this year’s theme. Indeed, on 11 September the U.K.’s House of
Commons will be debating and voting on an assisted suicide bill. Presented by
Rob Marris, the bill proposes allowing terminally-ill the possibility of ending
their life with medical assistance….
Catholics in Iraq are ‘challenging’ the
Islamic State not with weapons or violence but through education and teaching,
thanks to the contribution and support of Australian Catholic University. This
October courses will begin at the Catholic University of Erbil, which was
desired by the Chaldean Church in Iraq as a concrete way to aid the Christian
youth in the Middle East. In recent days, Archbishop Bashar Matti
Warda of Erbil for Chaldeans met with
representatives of Australian Catholic University (ACU) and the President of
the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
and Archbishop Denis James Hart of Melbourne in order to better coordinate the
necessary aid to complete construction on the university located in the city
which is mostly Christian. The Chaldean Church provided the 30,000 square
metres where the university will stand. The goal from the beginning was to create a private
university open to all, which meets the needs of the people. The university
will also serve as centre for scientific research. Almost three years after the dramatic events
that swept the northern regions of Iraq and led to thousands of Christian
refugees to flee from Islamic State jihadists to Erbil, the University will be
a concrete sign of support to young Iraqi Christians, inevitably tempted to
leave the country and leave behind the horrors of war and the uncertainties and
threats that influence their future….