News & Politics - Religious News Thread #5 ~ The Month of Fasting Has Come, the Emperor's Banner Has Arrived

**sunnykerr** · 07-03-2014, 06:26 PM

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**sunnykerr** · 07-03-2014, 06:30 PM

Quote:

China forbids some Muslims from fasting for Ramadan

BEIJING -- Students and civil servants in China's Muslim northwest, where Beijing is enforcing a security crackdown following deadly unrest, have been ordered to avoid taking part in traditional fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Statements posted in the past several days on websites of schools, government agencies and local party organizations in the Xinjiang region said the ban was aimed at protecting students' wellbeing and preventing use of schools and government offices to promote religion. Statements on the websites of local party organizations said members of the officially atheist ruling party also should avoid fasting.

"No teacher can participate in religious activities, instil religious thoughts in students or coerce students into religious activities," said a statement on the website of the No. 3 Grade School in Ruoqiang County in Xinjiang.

Similar bans have been imposed in the past on fasting for Ramadan, which began at sundown Saturday. But this year is unusually sensitive because Xinjiang is under tight security following attacks that the government blames on Muslim extremists with foreign terrorist ties.

Violence has escalated in recent years in Xinjiang. The ruling party blames violent extremists that it says want independence, while members of the region's Uighur ethnic group complain that discrimination and restrictions on religion, such as a ban on taking children to mosques, are fueling anger at the ethnic Han Chinese majority.

An attack on May 22 in the regional capital of Urumqi by four people who threw bombs in a vegetable market killed 43 people, including the attackers. On June 22, police in Kashgar in the far west said they killed 13 assailants who drove into a police building and set off explosives, injuring three officers. Authorities have blamed two other attacks at train stations in Urumqi and in China's southwest on Muslim extremists.

The government responded with a crackdown that resulted in more than 380 arrests in one month and public rallies to announce sentences.

The ruling party is wary of religious activities it worries might serve as a rallying point for opposition to one-party rule. Controls on worship are especially sensitive in Xinjiang and in neighbouring Tibet, where religious faith plays a large role in local cultures.

On Tuesday, authorities in some communities in Xinjiang held celebrations of the anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party and served food to test whether Muslim guests were fasting, according to Dilxat Raxit, spokesman in Germany for the rights group World Uyghur Congress.

"This will lead to more conflicts if China uses coercive measures to rule and to challenge Uighur beliefs," said Dilxat Raxit in an email.

The ruling party says religion and education should be kept separate and students should not be subject to religious influences. That rule is rarely enforced for children of Han Chinese, who, if they have a religion, are mostly Buddhist, Daoist or Christian.

"Students shall not participate in religious activities; they shall not study scripts or read poems at script and choir classes; they shall not wear any religious emblems; and no parent or others can force students to have religious beliefs or partake in religious activities," said the statement on the website of the grade school in Ruoqiang County.

A news portal run by the government of Yili in the northern reaches of Xinjiang said fasting is detrimental to the physical wellbeing of young students, who should eat regularly.

In the city of Bole, retired teachers from the Wutubulage Middle School were called in to stand guard at mosques and prevent students from entering, according to a statement on the municipal party committee website.

Also in Bole, the Bozhou University of Radio and Television said on its website it held a meeting with working and retired minority teachers on the first day of the Ramadan to remind them of the fasting ban.

The forestry bureau in Xinjiang's Zhaosu county held an event the day before Ramadan at which party cadres signed a pledge they and their relatives would "firmly resist fasting," according to a statement on the website of the local party committee.

The Moyu Weather Bureau in the Hotan area said on its website that Muslim employees, both active and retired, were required to sign a letter promising not to fast.

The commercial bureau for Turpan, an oasis town in the Taklamakan Desert, said in a statement that civil servants are "strictly forbidden" to fast or perform the Salat prayer ritual in a mosque.

You know, normally, and even here really, I am all for keeping a good distance between what's taught in schools and religion.

I just don't think either side profits from a mixing of those two.

But I agree with the article in that the timing, this year, is pretty suspicious.

China isn't a democracy, after all, so it's hard to imagine this is done out of deep and abiding care for religious freedom.

I'm thinking it's another instance of repression of the Muslim minority.

But that's a guess on my part.

**sunnykerr** · 07-06-2014, 04:51 PM

An update on the story of the African man who had been put under psychicatric care because he is an atheist:

Quote:

Nigeria atheist Bala freed from Kano psychiatric hospital

A Nigerian man detained in a hospital psychiatric ward because he did not believe in God has been freed.

Mubarak Bala was released because of a doctors' strike which has seen many patients discharged, a charity said.

Mr Bala said he now wanted to reconcile with his family who committed him to the hospital in Kano where he says he was held against his will for 18 days.

But he said he wanted to leave the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria after receiving death threats.

A humanist charity which took up his case said that Mr Bala, a chemical engineering graduate, was freed on Tuesday but news of his release was not made public until he was in a secure location.

"There are still deep concerns for Mubarak's safety in a part of the country where accusations of 'apostasy' can be deadly," the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) said in a statement.

The man's family is reported to have had him committed to the hospital because it feared for his safety after he publicly stated his atheism.

'Misgivings and misunderstanding'

In a statement released on Friday, Mr Bala said he was now staying with some of his family, had been assured of his safety and wanted to put things behind him "for the sake of reconciliation".

"I have realised that my matter is a family one which requires family resolution... all misgivings and misunderstanding within my family has been resolved," the statement said.

He said he retracted "some derogatory remarks I have made online, out of anger".

His lawyer, Muhammad Bello Shehu, told the BBC Hausa Service this did not refer to his faith but to remarks he had made about his father who he accused of being an Islamic leader who could not afford to have a non-Muslim in the family.

After the 29-year-old was admitted to a psychiatric ward at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, he sought help from friends via email and social media until his phone was confiscated, according to IHEU.

Mr Shehu said that no further legal action would be taken but that Mr Bala wanted another doctor to evaluate him to put it on the record that he was not suffering from a mental illness as the hospital has concluded.

When Mr Bala was first detained IHEU said his family had asked a doctor if he was mentally ill because he had told relatives that he was an atheist.

Despite being told that he was not unwell, Mr Bala's family then went to a second doctor, who declared that his atheism was a side-effect of suffering a personality change, the group said.

Some states in northern Nigeria adopted Islamic law after the end of military law in 1999.

The BBC's Nigeria correspondent Will Ross say religion is a sensitive issue in the country especially as Islamist insurgents are fighting in the north-east to impose an Islamic state.

If they did indeed only have him committed in order to protect him against attacks, then I can see why he would want to reconcile with his family.

But only if that's the real reason.

Otherwise, this man is simply a better person than I will ever be.

In light of that revelation, it makes one wonder if the technicality that led to his liberation from the hospital was such a bit of happenstance or if perhaps things didn't happen behind the scenes to facilitate his being made vulnerable.

**sunnykerr** · 07-08-2014, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Vatican reports big drop in profits as Pope pushes for more transparency

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican bank on Tuesday reported a big drop in profits as Pope Francis presses reforms to make the scandal-tainted institution more transparent.

The bank, formally called Institute for Religious Works, said its net profit in 2013 fell to 2.9 million euros ($4 million) from 86.6 million euros ($118 million) the previous year. The income statement lists a loss of 14.4 million euros ($19.5 million) attributed to a "donation" of securities to a Holy See foundation. It didn't elaborate, but news reports have said a top Vatican cardinal had transferred some 15 million euros to an Italian film company considered close to the Vatican and that the transaction was under investigation.

The bank continues to close accounts that don't meet tighter regulatory standards. The scrutiny reflects the bank's aim to improve compliance with international banking standards, including those to discourage money laundering. So far it has blocked 1,239 individual client and 762 institutional client accounts. Of some 3,000 "customer relationships" terminated, most were dormant accounts, but others didn't fit the bank's revamped focus.

The bank said it "now focuses only on Catholic institutions, clerics, employees or former employees of the Vatican with salary and pensions accounts" plus embassies and diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

The opaque, secretive way the bank had been run was largely blamed for Vatican financial scandals. Last year a Vatican monsignor with millions on deposit was arrested in an alleged money-smuggling plot. A 2010 money-laundering probe by Rome prosecutors sparked tightened scrutiny at the bank.

The initial phase of reforms stressed "zero tolerance for any suspicious activity," said bank president Ernst von Freyberg. The next phase, envisioning more efficient structures, is expected to see a change of command. French financier Jean-Baptiste de Franssu is widely expected to be tapped on Wednesday to head the bank.

Holy cow!!!

That drop in net profits, and the apparent causes for it, make it sound like the Vatican bank system had, up until now, functioned in a super mafialike way.

That is insane!

**sunnykerr** · 07-14-2014, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Sudan anger at 'church-building ban'

The Sudan Council of Churches has criticised the authorities for banning the construction of new churches.

Over the weekend, a Sudanese government minister said there were already enough churches to provide for Christians.

The council's secretary-general told the BBC the announcement came after a church was demolished near the capital, Khartoum, this month by town planners.

Sudan is majority Muslim, but officially guarantees freedom of religion.

Following the secession of South Sudan in July 2011, many of Sudan's Christian inhabitants moved to the South.

Shalil Abdullah, a minister of Guidance and Endowments, was quoted as saying on Saturday that the remaining churches were enough for those Christians who stayed in Sudan.

But Rev Kori El Ramli, the secretary-general of the Sudan Council of Churches, said he was surprised by the move as church leaders had always had a good relationship with the authorities.

"We are growing, we need more churches," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme.

'Threatening stance'

Mr El Ramli said town planners were in the process of forcibly moving Christians from a shanty area of Omdurman city - and the church that was bulldozed had been in that suburb.

The new ruling would mean that area where the people were being relocated to - north of the city - would have no church, he said.

"We want the government to give us new plots so we can build a new church," the cleric said.

"We are citizens and the constitution says there is freedom of religion and worship so we are using this to get our rights."

The authorities had seemed recently to be taking a more threatening stance towards Christians, he added.

A workshop the council held at the University of Sudan on Monday was stopped by intelligence agents who accused them of evangelising, he said.

There was an international outcry in May when Sudanese woman Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, who is married to a Christian man, was sentenced under Sharia law to hang for apostasy for refusing to renounce Christianity.

Even though Mrs Ibrahim was brought up as an Orthodox Christian, the authorities considered her to be a Muslim as she was born to a Muslim father.

In June, her death sentence for renouncing Islam was overturned and she was released from jail.

This is another instance where official guarantees of toleration of religious diversity are so much pablum.

I find it unacceptable in this day and age that the spiritual beliefs of people are to be controlled thus by governments.

It is infringinging on a person's right to conscience, as far as I'm concerned.

**sunnykerr** · 07-16-2014, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Pope Francis Calls for Protection of Migrant Children

Pontiff Also Calls for Improved Conditions in Latin American Countries They Are Fleeing

Pope Francis is urging the U.S. and other governments to protect the migrant children flocking by the thousands across the Rio Grande and to rectify often appalling conditions at home that have set them on the road.

The pope's call comes as U.S., Mexican and Central American officials scramble to contain what President Barack Obama and others have called an "urgent humanitarian situation" unfolding along the U.S.-Mexico border, primarily in Texas.

"I must call attention to the tens of thousands of children who migrate alone, unaccompanied, to escape poverty and violence," Pope Francis said in a letter, read at a migration conference in Mexico City sponsored by the Vatican and the Mexican government. The letter says youngsters cross the U.S. border "in extreme conditions, in a hopeful search that most of the time is in vain."

Pope Francis is urging the U.S. and other governments to protect the migrant children flocking by the thousands across the Rio Grande and to rectify often appalling conditions at home that have set them on the road.

The pope's call comes as U.S., Mexican and Central American officials scramble to contain what President Barack Obama and others have called an "urgent humanitarian situation" unfolding along the U.S.-Mexico border, primarily in Texas.

"I must call attention to the tens of thousands of children who migrate alone, unaccompanied, to escape poverty and violence," Pope Francis said in a letter, read at a migration conference in Mexico City sponsored by the Vatican and the Mexican government. The letter says youngsters cross the U.S. border "in extreme conditions, in a hopeful search that most of the time is in vain."

Now, it's probably not going to do much.

But, again, this man speaks the truth.

**sunnykerr** · 07-18-2014, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum

Iraqi Christians are fleeing Mosul after Islamist militants threatened to kill them unless they converted to Islam or paid a "protection tax".

A statement issued by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) was read out at the city's mosques.

It called on Christians to comply by midday on Saturday or face death if they did not leave the northern city.

Isis has control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and said last month it was creating an Islamic caliphate.

The ultimatum cited a historic contract known as "dhimma," under which non-Muslims in Islamic societies who refuse to convert are offered protection if they pay a fee, called a "jizya".

"We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," the Isis statement said.

"Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil," in the neighbouring autonomous region of Kurdistan, Patriarch Louis Sako told the AFP news agency.

"For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians," he said.

The patriarch, one of the most senior Christian clerics in Iraq, said militants had been seen tagging Christian houses with the letter N for "Nassarah", a term used for Christians in the Koran.

Community destroyed

Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities but its population has dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Prior to 2003, the number of Christians in the city had been as high as 60,000, but that had dropped to about 35,000 by June this year, Mr Sako said.

He said another 10,000 fled Mosul after Isis took control at the beginning of June and numbers dropped have fallen rapidly since.

Isis issued a similar ultimatum in the Syrian city of Raqqa in February, calling on Christians to pay about half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety.

Pay a protection tax or die... yeah, this is about religious conversion.

This is why I hate terrorism.

It high-jacks religion, but it's about something else entirely.

Somewhere behind it all, someone's getting off on power and riches.

The rest is manipulation.

**sunnykerr** · 07-22-2014, 06:01 PM

And the situation takes a preposterously grim turn for Iraqi Christians:

Quote:

Isis militants 'seize Iraq monastery and expel monks'

Islamist militants in Iraq are reported to have seized an ancient monastery near Mosul and expelled the monks.

Local residents said monks at the Mar Behnam monastery were allowed to take only the clothes they were wearing.

The monastery, which dates from the 4th Century, is a major Christian landmark and a place of pilgrimage.

Christians have fled Mosul after the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) told them to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death.

Isis has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq and said last month it was creating an Islamic caliphate.

Mosul itself is now said to be empty of Christians.

The Mar Behnam monastery is run by the Syriac Catholic Church and is near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, to the south-east of Mosul.

A member of the Syriac clergy quoted the militants as telling the monastery's residents: "You have no place here any more, you have to leave immediately."

He said the monks asked to be allowed to save some of the monastery's relics but the fighters refused.

Local Christian residents told AFP news agency that the monks walked for several miles before they were picked up by Kurdish fighters.

Earlier this month, Isis issued an ultimatum in Mosul, citing a historic contract known as "dhimma," under which non-Muslims in Islamic societies who refuse to convert are offered protection if they pay a fee, called a "jizya".

"We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," the Isis statement said.

Isis issued a similar ultimatum in the Syrian city of Raqqa in February, calling on Christians to pay about half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety.

Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities but its population has dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.

A 4th-century landmark.

That's what these over-privileged brats are going after now.

Gio Gio · 07-24-2014, 09:13 AM

Meriam Ibrahim put on death row for marrying a Christian meets Pope Francis | Mail Online

Quote:

The Vatican said Pope Francis had 'a very affectionate' meeting with Meriam Ibrahim, 27, her husband and their two small children. Ms Ibrahim, and her family arrived at Rome's Ciampino airport at around 9.30am on a plane provided by the Italian government [...]

_vega_ · 07-24-2014, 04:28 PM

I thought she had been killed! I'm so happy she wasn't!

**sunnykerr** · 07-26-2014, 10:07 AM

She's already looking a little better as well, which is good to see.

Meanwhile, the Pope also did something else pretty amazing on Friday:

Quote:

Pope Francis stuns diners at Vatican workers' cafeteria, orders Friday fish

VATICAN CITY - Do you make the pope pay for lunch?

Pope Francis popped in unannounced at the Vatican workers' cafeteria Friday and lined up, tray in hand, along with stunned diners.

Cashier Claudia Di Giacomo told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that when Francis presented his tray with a plate of cod, a bowl of fusilli pasta without sauce, a side of grilled tomatoes and "just a few" french fries, she "didn't have the courage to hand him the bill."

Francis chatted with his tablemates -- five Vatican pharmacy stock clerks. His tip? A papal blessing and photos snapped with diners, said the cafeteria chef, Franco Paini.

The pope usually dines at the Vatican guest house where he lives.

I see he is still living in a the guest house as well.

**sunnykerr** · 07-29-2014, 05:58 PM

Quote:

France offers Iraq Christians asylum after Mosul threat

The French government says it is ready to offer asylum to Iraqi Christians forced to flee by Islamist militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Many fled Mosul after the Islamic State (IS) group which seized much of northern Iraq told them to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death.

Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities.

Two top ministers said, "We are ready, if they so desire, to help facilitate asylum on our territory."

It was a joint message from Laurent Fabius and Bernard Cazeneuve, respectively foreign minister and interior minister in the Socialist government.

A senior Christian cleric in Iraq, Patriarch Louis Sako, estimated that before the advance of IS, Mosul had a Christian community of 35,000 - compared with 60,000 prior to 2003.

According to the UN, just 20 families from the ancient Christian minority now remain in the city, which Isis has taken as the capital of its Islamic state.

Islamic State was previously known as Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).

On Saturday, France's far right opposition party the National Front organised a rally in Paris in support of Iraqi Christians.

I suppose that's assuming any of these Christian Iraqis can physically/financially make it to France.

But at least there's an offer on the table, right?

It's just terrible to think that it has to come to this.

**sunnykerr** · 08-03-2014, 01:02 PM

Quote:

'Muslim Glastonbury' challenges perceptions of Islam in Britain

Talks about extremism, religion and sex alongside music and food at four-day celebration of Eid in Lincolnshire

Ranging from sectarianism to sex, a four-day event nicknamed the "Muslim Glastonbury" is setting out to challenge perceptions of Islam in Britain.

Living Islam, which began on Thursday at Lincolnshire Showground and continues over the weekend, is a celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which was marked by Muslims around the world this week at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. But the festival, perhaps more akin to a Muslim Hay-on-Wye than the music festival it has been compared to, also represents an opportunity for the expected 4,500 attendees to discuss the issues pertinent to them in contemporary Britain.

Dilwar Hussain, one of the organisers of the Islamic Society of Britain event, being run for the fifth time, said the range of topics being covered should not come as a surprise. "British Muslims are a broad range of people, they're not just interested in one thing. They have diverse interests and they shouldn't be stereotyped as extreme or non-extreme, passive or moderate."

The discussion programme ranges from sectarianism in the UK and tackling extremism to Saturday's opportunity to "have a frank and honest conversation about sex and relationships" and Sunday's segment on how to "spice up your marriage". Hussain said the topics reflect "Muslim table talk, what people ordinarily discuss in their homes".

"It's true to some extent that we don't publicly talk about these things and what we are saying is actually, these things should be talked about," he added.

But the festival is not just about earnest discussion. The entertainment tent, a Glastonbury-style big top, featured rapping, beatboxing and comedy on Thursday night and there are a huge range of activities, including supervised scout activities, bouncy castles and rock-climbing to distract the children while parents attend to more serious matters.

Mary MacIntyre, a 42-year-old teaching assistant from London, eating a seekh kebab in the smoky food tent on Friday – food being a key part of any Muslim festival – said her family had come with two other families, with 20 children between them, and were camping on site. "We thought it was a good thing for them [the children] to be in an Islamic environment so they can see their religion as something positive," she said. "You can still enjoy yourself as a Muslim. They can come here and be proud of their identity."

Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, one of a number of non-Muslim speakers, gave a talk entitled "What do British values look like and is there room for Muslims?" He expressed his unease about focus on British values rather than values of human beings generally. "The setting-up therefore of British values against any kind of values, whether Muslim or Christian, just won't do," he said. He told the Guardian Living Islam was "a very important event. I've thought for a long time that voices of young professional Muslims aren't heard enough."

One of those young professional Muslims was Nadia Ishtiaq, from London, who said Williams's words resonated with her. She and her husband were camping with their two daughters for the first time after chancing upon details of the event online.

Speaking as they all tucked into Halal burgers, the 31-year-old, who works in accounts, said she liked the fact that Christians like Williams were speaking, as well as Muslims from different strands of Islam. "It's really diverse, I love that," she said. "Sometimes Muslims can be quite cliquey. As British Muslims, we do try to get involved with our neighbours. Muslims shouldn't make themselves exclusive, we are an inclusive faith."

Ajmal Masroor, the imam of TV fame, including "Make me a Muslim", said the event was helping to create "positive citizens of this country".

Explaining what people could expect from his seminar on love, sex and relationships on Saturday, he said it would be "everything about sex you want to know from a Muslim perspective. According to Islam, sexual experience is a heavenly glimpse of what's to come. Most of us want it to last forever, but if it did you would be in heaven [already]."

Honestly, I think the whole world could do with more events like this one.

**sunnykerr** · 08-06-2014, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Xinjiang city bans Islamic dress on public transport

A city in China's restive Xinjiang region has banned those in Islamic headscarves and with beards from public transport, a state paper says.

Officials in Karamay said the ban, which prohibits headscarves, partial face veils and burkas, would last until 20 August due to a local sports event.

Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur minority, has seen an upsurge in violence in recent months.

Authorities have blamed Uighur separatists for the violence.

In a report by the Karamay Daily which was carried by national media outlets, officials listed the "five types of people" who would be banned from public transport.

They are people wearing headscarves, veils, burkas, clothes with the crescent moon and star symbol, and "youths with long beards".

"Passengers who do not co-operate, particularly the 'five types of people', will be reported to the police," said the report, which added that all commuters would be subject to bag checks.

"The security measures will ensure social stability and protect the lives, property and safety of citizens of all races," said the report.

Karamay is a city about 400km north of the region's capital Urumqi, which was hit by deadly attacks in April and May at a railway station and a market.

The latest unrest in Xinjiang took place on 28 July in Yarkant county, also known as Shache.

Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said a group armed with knives and axes stormed a police station and government offices. It said 37 civilians and 59 attackers were killed

But an Uighur rights group has disputed that account, saying that police had opened fire on people protesting against a Ramadan crackdown on Muslims.

Reports surfaced last month that some government departments in Xinjiang were banning Muslim staff from fasting during Ramadan.

Days after the Yarkant incident the imam of China's largest mosque, in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar, was stabbed and killed.

The imam, Jume Tahir, was said to be deeply unpopular among Uighurs who disliked the fact that he praised Communist Party policies while preaching in his mosque.

Chinese Internet users had mixed reactions to the Karamay city ruling on Weibo, China's microblogging service.

"So every bearded or burka-clad person is a terrorist? For goodness sake these are traditional customs," said one.

Others however argued it was a necessary measure. "Having a beard definitely does not mean you are a terrorist. But for the sake of public safety, we should take whatever precautions we can take," said a user.

You know, I understand they've had violence, but repressive measures that brush literally everyone with the same feather (is that the expression, I'm having a momentary brain freeze) is just completely ridiculous.

A headscarf is not a security risk on a bus.

A beard is not a security risk anywhere.

If they think they need to arm themselves against terrorism, that's what they should do.

But this isn't the way.

**sunnykerr** · 08-08-2014, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Pope reinstates revolutionary priest from Nicaragua's Sandinistas

Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann was banned from ministries in 1985 as part of crackdown on 'Marxist thought' in Catholic church

Pope Francis faces the wrath of rightwing conservatives by reinstating a priest who joined the revolutionary, leftwing government of Nicaragua's Sandinistas and once served as president of the UN general assembly.

Pope John Paul II suspended Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann from his ministry in 1985, as part of a broader crackdown on adherents of liberation theology – a school of thought he criticised for importing Marxist values into the church. The edict meant D'Escoto was, among other things, forbidden to say Mass.

A brief statement from the Maryknoll religious order, to which the 81-year-old priest belongs, announced that Francis had lifted the suspension on 1 August. "I am happy to be able to celebrate mass again," D'Escoto was reported as saying from the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. "I am really pleased."

A few months ago, he wrote to the pope asking to "be able to celebrate the Holy Eucharist before dying". Bishop Enrico dal Covolo, rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, told the Italian daily La Stampa that Francis's response did not represent the adoption of a political stance and should be understood in the context of his emphasis on the importance of mercy.

But the rightwing US website Truth Revolt said: "The decision will likely anger most conservative Catholics". Indeed: a comment posted to another conservative site, Free Republic, branded it "a terrible decision and a slap in the face to all true and faithful Catholics".

After the Sandinistas overthrew the pro-American regime of Anastasio Somoza in 1979, D'Escoto agreed to become foreign minister in Daniel Ortega's new government, a post he held until 1990. From 2008 – 2009, D'Escoto served as president of the UN general assembly.

In the 1980s, the Sandinistas accused the CIA of trying to assassinate him with a bottle of poisoned Benedictine liqueur . D'Escoto once referred to President Reagan as "the butcher of my people" and only last year told Barack Obama in a letter that America was "hooked on wars of aggression" and "possessed by the demons of greed and domination".

Francis's relationship with the liberation theologists is complex. As head of the Jesuit order in Argentina in the 1970s, he supported John Paul's policies and has even been accused of complicity in the kidnapping of two left-leaning priests during the country's "dirty war", an accusation his aides have always denied.

But he has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of the poor and used it denounce free-market capitalism as an "economy of exclusion and inequality". It is also likely that Francis's papacy will see the beatification of archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador, who was assassinated in 1980 and was widely admired by liberation theologists.

No less complex have been the relations between the Sandinistas and the Catholic church. Ortega was voted from office in 1990 but returned as president in 2006 after backing a total ban on abortion, also supported by Nicaragua's deeply conservative Catholic hierarchy.

His victory was achieved despite a long-running scandal over claims by his adopted stepdaughter – denied by Ortega – that he sexually abused her while he was leader of the Sandinista government.

Personally, I don't think theology and politics mix very well, but of course both John Paul II and Francis I will have had different experiences in that regard.

One might even say they've had diametrically opposed experiences in this matter.

I don't kow if D'Escoto deserves to be restored to the priesthood, but I suspect this was done under the general heading of Francis's papacy of "who am I to judge?"


Fan Forum > Archived General Discussion > News & Politics > Religious News Thread #5 ~ The Month of Fasting Has Come, the Emperor's Banner Has Arrived