Holy Name of Jesus

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about Florida’s new six-week abortion ban during an event at the Prime Osborn Convention Center on May 1, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 11:17 am (CNA).

Just six months from Election Day, the Biden-Harris administration is ramping up its campaign rhetoric and going all in on abortion.

Here’s what is going on with abortion throughout the country. 

Vice President Harris calls pro-life laws ‘immoral’ 

Over the last several weeks Vice President Kamala Harris has been touting the Biden administration’s support for unrestricted abortion on her “Reproductive Freedoms Tour.” 

At a stop in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Harris slammed states such as Texas whose pro-life laws do not allow exceptions for abortion in cases of rape and incest. 

“The idea that these so-called leaders would say even no exception for rape or incest, to say to a survivor of a crime of violence to their body, of violation to their body, that you a survivor of that don’t have a right to make a decision about what happens to your body next, that’s immoral,” Harris said.  

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff also made headlines last week when he held an event with Men4Choice in Atlanta to encourage men to advocate for abortion. 

“This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying,” Emhoff told NBC News. “These freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.”

Both Harris and President Joe Biden continue to project confidence that Americans will turn out en masse to vote in favor of abortion. 

“Momentum is on our side,” Harris said at a tour stop in Jacksonville, Florida, last week. “Since Roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot the people of America voted for freedom.” 

New York throws out abortion amendment

On Tuesday, New York Supreme Court Judge Daniel Doyle ruled that a referendum to enshrine a right to abortion in the state’s constitution cannot appear on the ballot in November because supporters did not follow the proper procedure laid out in the state constitution. 

The text of the proposed “Equal Rights Amendment” avoids the use of the word “abortion” but was widely seen as creating a constitutional protection for women to access abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. 

“The constitution is the supreme will of the people,” Doyle said in his ruling. 

“This court cannot condone the actions taken by the Legislature in derogation of the expressed will of the people,” Doyle continued. “The Legislature’s vote … prior to receiving the opinion of the attorney general frustrated the deliberative process intended by the people in [the state constitution].”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a post on X that she intends to appeal the ruling.

Similar abortion amendments will be on the ballot in Florida, Maryland, and as many as 11 other states.

California sees sharp rise in abortions after Roe overturn

California saw a sharp increase in abortion numbers last year, with 178,300 unborn babies killed in the state in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

An increase of about 24,360 — or 16% — from 2020, this is a 10-year high for abortions in one year, according to Yahoo News. 

This comes in the first full year since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and after California further expanded abortion laws and made it easier for out-of-state women to enter to obtain abortions. 

According to Guttmacher, 5,160 out-of-state women obtained abortions in California in 2023. Though a high number, this is still well behind other states such as Illinois, which in 2023 had 36,810 out-of-state abortions, and North Carolina, which had 15,910. 

Missouri governor to defund Planned Parenthood

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced that he will sign a bill to defund Medicaid reimbursements for abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood. 

Passed by the majority-Republican state Legislature on April 25, the bill states that “no public funds shall be expended to any abortion facility, or affiliate thereof.” 

The bill also states that “any taxpayer, as well as the attorney general, shall have standing to bring a cause of action in any court or administrative agency of competent jurisdiction to enforce these provisions.” 

Abortion is only legal in cases when the mother’s life is at risk in Missouri. However, a ballot proposal legalizing abortion through viability has reached enough signatures to be included on the November ballot. 

After Parson signs the bill, the law will go into effect on Aug. 28.

Dainelys Soto, Genesis Contreras, and Daniel Soto, who arrived from Venezuela after crossing the U.S. border from Mexico, wait for dinner at a hotel provided by the Annunciation House on Sept. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CNA Staff, May 9, 2024 / 10:44 am (CNA).

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed an injunction against a Catholic nonprofit group in the state, accusing it of “systemic criminal conduct” for allegedly facilitating illegal border crossings from Mexico. 

Paxton announced the filing in a press release on his website, accusing Annunciation House in El Paso of facilitating “illegal border crossings” and of concealing “illegally present aliens from law enforcement.”

Located just a few thousand feet from the U.S.-Mexico border, Annunciation House says on its website that it serves “migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region,” primarily through “several houses of hospitality” in the region.

The group was launched in the late 1970s as a Catholic ministry that quickly became “a house of hospitality for the homeless poor,” primarily illegal immigrants. 

Paxton has been targeting Annunciation House for months, alleging that the organization has been facilitating illegal immigration. In February he filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit, asking the District Court of El Paso County to revoke the organization’s nonprofit registration and prohibit it from continuing to operate in Texas.

The district court rejected that petition in March, claiming that Paxton was seeking the closure “without regard to due process or fair play.”

On Wednesday, the attorney general claimed to have “reviewed and obtained sworn testimony” indicating that the nonprofit is engaging in illegal immigration activities.

Paxton said the group’s “own sworn testimony” as part of ongoing legal proceedings show that Annunciation House “knowingly shelters illegal aliens” and “even goes into Mexico to retrieve aliens who[m] border patrol denied.”

The Catholic group further “conceals those people in its shelters from law enforcement,” Paxton’s office alleged.

“Any [nongovernmental organization] facilitating the unlawful entry of illegal aliens into Texas is undermining the rule of law and potentially jeopardizing the safety and well-being of our citizens,” Paxton said in the press release. 

In the filing, Paxton’s office said Annunciation House “has forfeited its right to do business in this state and its registration and certificate of formation must be revoked and terminated.”

Annunciation House could not be reached for comment on Thursday morning. Attorneys representing the nonprofit were also unavailable for comment on Thursday. 

In February the organization had called Paxton’s efforts “illegal, immoral, and anti-faith,” arguing that the attorney general’s office “considers it a crime for a Catholic organization to provide shelter to refugees.”

“If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal — so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks,” the group said. 

Xóchitl Gálvez, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, and Claudia Sheinbaum. / Credit: Conference of the Mexican Episcopate

ACI Prensa Staff, May 9, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

With Mexico’s June 2 presidential election fast approaching, the attention of the country’s citizens is increasingly focused on the proposals of the candidates who are vying to succeed incumbent President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.  

There are three candidates in the race for president of Mexico: Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of the ruling Morena party — founded by current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador — heads the left-wing coalition Together We Make History; Xóchitl Gálvez of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) is the candidate of the electoral alliance Broad Front for México; and Jorge Álvarez Máynez is running for the Citizen Movement.

When it comes to issues of particular interest to Catholics, abortion and the policy agenda of the LGBT lobby are among the most sensitive. Here’s where the three candidates stand on these issues in particular.

Xóchitl Gálvez

Regarding abortion, Gálvez has spoken out on several occasions. In her most recent statement, she said: “I don’t agree with criminalizing any woman who has an abortion, I am totally against it.”

“Abortion is an individual decision of the woman. If she makes this determination, she should be accompanied, not judged,” Galvez posted on her social media on Sept. 28, 2020, a date when feminists commemorate the so-called “Global Day of Action for Legal and Safe Abortion.” 

During her years in the Mexican Senate (2018–2023), Gálvez voted in favor of criminalizing so-called “conversion therapy.” Speaking about her vote in October 2022, she noted: “I believe it is an act of justice for the LGBTQ+ community. We owe it to them and I hope today we can make this law that will allow a human being to never again be subjected to therapy of this type.”

She also supported social security reform for same-sex couples, stating: “There’s no wiser saying than love is love, period. All people have the right to love each other.”

Regarding the legal status of drugs in Mexico, when the federal congress discussed the bill for legalizing and regulating cannabis, Gálvez stated: “I am going to vote for it, because rules will be established for its consumption without losing sight of the fact that marijuana is a drug, but today marijuana is sold illegally, it promotes the black market and engenders violence.”

Claudia Sheinbaum

At the start of her campaign, the candidate made 100 commitments that she would fulfill if elected, among them guaranteeing “access to health for women throughout their life cycle, especially with regard to sexual and reproductive health.”

In the different publications of international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the couched terminology “sexual and reproductive health” and “sexual and reproductive rights” usually includes “safe abortion.”

In 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — which in 1973 legalized abortion throughout the country — Sheinbaum declared that “it would be a setback” for the neighboring country to declare abortion, which she called “a right,” illegal. In response, her then-secretary of health, Oliva López Arellano, promoted Mexico City as an option to foreigners who wanted to have an abortion.

That same year, when so-called homosexual “marriage” was passed in the states of Guerrero and Tamaulipas, Sheinbaum celebrated: “Today the entire country advances in equal rights with the passage of marriage equality in Guerrero and Tamaulipas. I celebrate this demonstration of the will of the people and the search for justice for all men and women by both state congresses. Love is love.”

In addition, Sheinbaum, who formerly headed the government of Mexico City, publicly condemned conversion therapy for homosexuals, considering it to be “from the Inquisition,” and said that these are methods that “don’t belong in a city of rights.”

In December 2023, the candidate shared on X an image along with commentary stating her strong desire “to strengthen the rights of sexually diverse people.”

“My dream is to continue to fight for sexually diverse people as I did in Mexico City,” she said.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez

While serving as a representative in the Zacatecas state Legislature for the New Alliance party (2010–2013), Álvarez introduced several bills to decriminalize abortion and adultery, in addition to supporting “marriage equality,” which he noted on X.

Also on X, Álvarez came out in favor of what he called “the right to painless death with dignity” and called for changing the law in order to legalize and effectively regulate “active euthanasia.”

According to the National Bioethics Commission of Mexico, “active euthanasia is the action that puts an end to the patient’s life through an intervention aimed at procuring death, such as the administration of a drug.” The General Health Law, in Article 166 Section 21, prohibits “the practice of euthanasia, understood as homicide out of mercy.” 

In 2023, as a federal congressman, Álvarez introduced a bill to establish an administrative procedure in the Federal Civil Code that allows all Mexicans to change their gender identity on official government records.

Another bill by Álvarez sought to include “gender perspective” in the regulations on conscientious objection in medical and nursing practices.

What are the candidates’ priorities?

The online Saber Votar (Know How to Vote) platform monitors the candidates’ positions on issues such as public safety and criminal justice, education, freedom of thought and expression, and respect for and protection of life, among others.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the director of Saber Votar, Guillermo Torres Quiroz, provided an overview of the main proposals of the three candidates.

Torres said the focus of Gálvez’s campaign has been on public safety and health. Regarding human rights, the political scientist noted that Gálvez is “committed to diversity.” In addition, she has demonstrated “support for migrants and respect for Indigenous and Afro-Mexican rights.”

According to the Saber Votar director, Sheinbaum has focused her campaign on “the consolidation and continuity” of the current government as well as the implementation of “new social programs.”

Other important issues for Sheinbaum, he said, include guaranteeing “the freedoms of expression, press, assembly, and to demonstrate,” as well as “the religious, political, social, cultural, and sexual freedom” of society.

As Torres sees it, Álvarez “has focused his efforts on two crucial areas: inequality and corruption.”

In Torres’ view, the Citizen Movement candidate would work “for education, for the protection of sexual and reproductive rights” and “will promote a public health system with specialized services and a guaranteed supply of medicines.”

Torres noted that for the three candidates the issue of education is important. However, all three “omit the lack of basic and technological infrastructure in the schools, as well as the improvement of student learning” and fail to mention the knowledge and development of the transcendent values of the human person.

Issues of life, family, and freedoms are ignored

Meanwhile, the platform Voto Católico (Catholic Vote) has also analyzed each candidate, evaluating their proposals in light of the core values of the Christian faith. The platform’s director, Luis Antonio Hernández, shared his observations with ACI Prensa.

Hernández explained that “the current election cycle is characterized by the absence of a presidential candidate who shows an outstanding commitment to respect and protect life, as well as to comprehensive education and fundamental rights.”

Hernández pointed out that “these transcendental issues” have been replaced by “merely circumstantial issues overlaid with a heavy load of ideology” and emphasis on social aid programs.

He added that “the presence of the agenda of life, family, and freedoms is today limited to very discrete tones within a sea of ideology and proposals to further disrupt the institutions and laws that for decades have guaranteed governability, political stability, as well as relative social peace.”

How could the candidates’ positions affect the future of the country?

Hernández noted that, despite the relevance of the presidential office, “the experience of recent years shows us that the profile of the president of the republic is not decisive in whether or not the liberal agenda advances.”

Rather, he maintained that the “direction of Mexican society will depend largely on the performance of state legislatures” and on the “commitment and efficiency” of civil society groups and organizations.

Hernández encouraged them to “reformulate their work” and actively participate “evaluating the performance of legislators, formulating concrete, realistic, and achievable initiatives aimed at promoting and strengthening the right to life, motherhood, the traditional family, and fundamental freedoms.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Kariye, the former Byzantine Church of St. Savior in Chora in Istanbul in 2020. / Credit: Nathalie Ritzmann

ACI MENA, May 9, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Kariye, the former Byzantine Church of St. Savior in Chora, located in the Fatih district of Istanbul and converted back into a mosque by presidential decree on Aug. 21, 2020, was reopened for Muslim worship on May 6 after extensive restorations. The structure is famous for its outstanding Byzantine mosaics and frescoes.

The opening ceremony at the mosque, organized by the General Directorate of Foundations, was held the day after Orthodox Easter, on May 6. The reopening of the Kariye mosque was part of a massive inauguration of 201 restored structures and works — including 33 in Istanbul.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the ceremony via video conference, which was led by Safi Arpaguş, the mufti of Istanbul. After the speech, the president of Turkey requested the ribbon to be cut, declaring “Ya Allah, Bismillah” (Oh Allah (God), in the name of Allah (God)). Many citizens present for the event entered the mosque and prayed after the official part of the ceremony. 

Originally built as a church in the sixth century during the reign of Justinian, the current structure dates from the late 11th century and has undergone various transformations and restorations since. Chora houses unique examples of Byzantine and Christian art with its world-renowned mosaics and frescoes created between 1315 and 1321 at the request of the statesman Theodore Metochites. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the site attracted between 8,000 and 9,000 visitors daily, drawn to its extraordinary heritage and as a testament to Constantinople’s prestigious past.

From 536 to 1511, it served as a church, then it was first converted into a mosque in 1511 by the order of Atik Ali Paşa, the grand vizier of Sultan Beyazıt II. It remained a mosque until 1948 when it became the Kariye Museum for 72 years.

Following the decision to reconvert Kariye into a mosque, the site underwent restoration work for nearly four years. The delicate mosaics and paintings have been covered with curtains in the areas designated for worship. According to an article published on the Diyanet’s website — the Directorate of Religious Affairs, an official state institution established in 1924 — two foreign tourists who visited the mosque appreciated the still visible mosaics. It has yet to be confirmed how the images have been treated in different parts of the building and what may be different with the latest restoration

In a video broadcast on the Diyanet’s television channel, the mention of “the Kariye Mosque, which is a memory of conquest like Hagia Sophia,” highlights the significance attributed to this new transformation. 

Furthermore, following the model of Hagia Sophia, those who come for prayer and those who come for visits are segregated. It has not yet been confirmed whether tourists will be required to pay a significant fee to visit as is now the case to visit Hagia Sophia. 

This story was first published by ACI Mena, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

• Readings for the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
• Readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Solemnity of the Ascension

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

• Readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
• Readings for the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter - Ascension

Reading 1 Acts 18:1-8

Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Alleluia See Jn 14:18

Gospel Jn 16:16-20

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

• Readings for the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
• Readings for the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter - Ascension

Reading I Acts 1:1-11

Responsorial Psalm Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 

Reading II Eph 1:17-23

Alleluia Mt 28:19a, 20b

Gospel Mk 16:15-20

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The Ascension of Jesus Christ. Giotto di Bondone, 1305. / Credit: Public domain

National Catholic Register, May 9, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Christ’s ascension is meant to help us to grow to full stature in Christ as we respond to his confidence in making us his missionaries, together with the Holy Spirit, to renew the face of the earth.

The celebration of the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is an annual opportunity for us not only to focus on heaven, where the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us (Jn 14:1-6) and on the joy that “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the human heart conceived,” which “God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9; Is 64:4), but also on the implications Jesus’ return to the Father means for each of his followers. 

Jesus could have stayed on earth until the end of time as the Good Shepherd, crisscrossing the globe after every lost sheep, saving them one by one. As he ascended, however, he placed his own mission in our hands, commanding us to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). 

He took the training wheels off our discipleship and removed any excuses we might have to pass the buck of sharing and spreading the faith. “You will be my witnesses,” he told us, “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 

His confidence and trust in us, despite all our weaknesses, is astonishing. He wanted to incorporate us into — actually entrust to us — his mission of the redemption of the world. 

But he didn’t leave us orphans (cf. Jn 14:18). 

St. Luke gives us a beautiful image and detail, that Jesus “led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven” (Lk 24:50-51).

Jesus departed in the very act of blessing us. Pope Benedict in his trilogy “Jesus of Nazareth” commented on how the risen Jesus in heaven is perpetually blessing us. 

“Jesus departs in the act of blessing,” he states. “He goes while blessing, and he remains in that gesture of blessing. His hands remain, stretched out over this world … [which] expresses Jesus’ continuing relationship to his disciples, to the world. … That is why the disciples could return home from Bethany rejoicing. In faith we know that Jesus holds his hands stretched out in blessing over us. That is the lasting motive of Christian joy.” 

Jesus is continuously blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens (cf. Eph 1:3). He’s seeking to transform us into his incarnate benediction of the world. 

The great manifestation of that blessing is the descent of the Holy Spirit, for whose renewed coming we pray in the annual decenarium from the 40th to 50th days of Easter. St. Luke recalls Jesus’ words: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). That’s the power, the blessing, that came down upon the Church on Pentecost.  

During the Last Supper, Jesus said something startling: “I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). He was describing the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit’s presence as a blessing even greater than his own. That’s what the Church, huddling around the Blessed Virgin Mary, incessantly begs for after the Ascension.

The Holy Spirit helps us to fulfill, and not shirk, the awe-inspiring responsibility Christ has given us. This is the duty to give witness that Christ is alive, that he is the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection, and the Life, that he came to give us life to the full, so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be complete; he came to give and leave us the peace of his kingdom in a war-torn world; he came to help us and others to change our lives, to believe wholeheartedly in the Good News, and to follow him, so that where he is we also may be and so that we might recognize that God the Father loves us just as much as he loves Jesus (cf. Jn 14:6; 11:25; 10:10; 15:11; 14:27; Mk 1:15; Jn 16:27; 15:9). 

That’s a message and a mission that many no longer easily receive. 

Whether they think erroneously that science has disproven faith, or the problem of evil has refuted the possibility of a good God, or the clergy sex-abuse scandals have invalidated the Church’s witness, or the frigidity with which so many secularized Christians live their faith has revealed its incapacity to inspire, or a score of other possible reasons people cite to deaden the appeal of Christian faith and life, it’s clear that proclaiming the Gospel effectively to every creature is challenging work — but so was trying to convince down-to-earth first-century pagans and Jews that a crucified carpenter had not only risen from the dead but was the Savior of the world. The same blessing of the Holy Spirit that made their joint witness fruitful desires to give tandem testimony with us. 

One of the most effective ways to do so is through charity. 

Back in 1985, the future Pope Benedict XVI gave a radio address in which he focused on the “delightfully naïve pictures” of the Ascension in which the disciples are looking upward as Jesus is passing through the clouds and all we see are Jesus’ feet, the same feet the women wanted to grasp onto after the Resurrection. Cardinal Ratzinger commented that we need to recognize his feet and reverence them in disguise in the feet around us as we follow Christ’s example of washing the feet of others just as he cleansed the apostles’ feet in the Upper Room. 

“The true ascent of mankind,” he stated, “takes place precisely when a man learns to turn in humility to another person, bowing deeply at his feet in the position of one who would wash the feet of the other. It is only in the humility that knows how to bow down that can raise a person up.” 

In order to ascend, we need first to descend humbly in acts of corporal and spiritual works of mercy, including passing on the faith to those who don’t know it or who reject what they mistakenly believe it to be. 

Christ’s ascension is meant to lead us on an exodus not merely in the future, but here and now: an exodus from the self toward God and others, a journey from fear to trust, a passover from the flat earth of a world without God to the multidimensional reality of Christ’s kingdom. 

Christ’s ascension is meant to lift up our hearts as it helps us to drop to our knees. It is meant to help us to grow to full stature in Christ as we respond to his confidence in making us his missionaries, together with the Holy Spirit, to renew the face of the earth. It is meant to fill us, even now, with lasting joy.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Bishop Anthony Pascal Rebello of the Catholic Diocese of Francistown in Botswana. / Credit: SACBC

ACI Africa, May 8, 2024 / 18:28 pm (CNA).

Bishop Anthony Pascal Rebello of the Diocese of Francistown in Botswana has died after he “collapsed during Mass” on Saturday, May 4, the diocese has confirmed. 

The Kenyan-born member of Society of the Divine Word of Indian origin turned 74 on March 18.

A statement published by Batswana Catholics said Rebello died later at the hospital. “We are all shocked and we await to hear further arrangements from the [Society of the Divine Word] and the vicar general of the diocese,” the statement said.

Rebello was appointed local ordinary of the Francistown Diocese in July 2021. He was ordained a priest of the Society of the Divine Word in May 1977.

Rebello was among the three pioneer Society of the Divine Word members in Kenya in 1984; they opened their first mission in Kayole in Kenya’s Archdiocese of Nairobi and later the Galba Tulla mission in the country’s Diocese of Meru.

An alumnus of the Rome-based Pontifical Gregorian University, Rebello previously served as the provincial superior of the Society of the Divine Word in Kenya and parish vicar in Angola.

Prior to his appointment as bishop, he served as the parish priest of Holy Cross Mogoditshane Parish of the Diocese of Gaborone in Botswana. 

In a May 4 statement, members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) shared their “heartfelt condolences.”

“The news of the unexpected passing away of bishop Anthony Rebello reached us. We are shocked and sad about this news,” said SACBC president Bishop Sithembele Sipuka. “On behalf of the SACBC, I extend heartfelt condolences to the Diocese of Francistown, the Society of Divine Word, and his biological family.” 

“May all be consoled by the fact that Bishop Rebello was a humble man of strong and exemplary faith who we believe is now in the company of his risen Lord. May you all be consoled and may Bishop Rebello rest in peace,” Sipuka said.

In April 2022, Rebello was “badly injured” following an attack by robbers. He reportedly recovered from the attack after days in the hospital.

In Botswana, Rebello was known for his ministry to migrants and refugees.

In an interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, Rebello spoke about the refugees his episcopal see was hosting, who he said were natives of “Burundi, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.”

“This diocese is a welcoming diocese; the sisters and the priests are welcoming, and they have been visiting the detention center and the refugee center,” he said. “I personally have visited both the centers and they are in my heart.”

In the interview, Rebello highlighted the kind of apostolate at the detention and refugee centers, including undocumented people on the move detained at Dukwi Refugee Camp. 

“The Church is doing a lot of work in assisting the migrants and refugees,” he said. “We see to their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. We are also working toward offering spiritual help.”

Rebello lamented that the human rights of migrants and refugees in the Southern African nation were “being violated, because all children have the right to go to school.”

He went on to caution against “discrimination and xenophobic sentiments toward migrants and refugees,” saying: “We should pay attention to our language; we should not call others with bad names that can exclude them.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Servant of God Nino Baglieri. / Credit: ANS/Salesians

ACI Prensa Staff, May 8, 2024 / 17:53 pm (CNA).

The diocesan phase of the cause of beatification of the Servant of God Nino Baglieri has been closed in Modica, a town in southern Sicily. Overcoming his bitterness due to his quadriplegic condition, Baglieri gave himself to the mission of evangelizing through the means available to him. 

The closing of the diocesan phase, according to the Salesian News Agency, took place on Sunday, May 5, in Mother of St. Peter church, where a solemn Eucharist was celebrated by Salvatore Rumeo, the bishop of Noto. In his homily, the prelate related that on May 5, 1951, Baglieri received baptism, “becoming a Christian.”

Regarding the servant of God, he emphasized that “prayer for Nino was everything: Despite his suffering, like a light that shines and burns, he managed to infect others with the meaning of true prayer.”

Addressing the servant of God in prayer, Rumeo said: “We are grateful to you for your evangelical teaching, because in your life we see the movement of God’s grace that continues to speak to us about holiness.”

The diocesan phase concluded with the sealing of eight packets containing all the information and testimonies compiled about the life and work of Baglieri. Also present were the ninth successor of Don Bosco, Father Pascual Chávez, and the Salesian postulator, Father Pierluigi Cameroni.

All documentation now goes to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican for analysis.

Who was Nino Baglieri?

According to the Salesians, Baglieri was born in Modica in 1951. In his youth he worked as a bricklayer until on May 6, 1968, the feast of St. Dominic Savio, at the age of 17, he fell from a scaffold and became completely paralyzed. He then spent many dark years full of bitterness, only able to move his head.

The Salesian Bulletin Don Bosco in Central America indicates that it was suggested to his mother that she have her son euthanized with “a simple injection” to end his suffering, but she responded: “As long as I live I will take care of him.”

On Good Friday 1978, some members of a group called Renewal in the Spirit came to his house to pray for him. As he felt a warmth flooding his body, ”a new force entered me and something old came out. I accepted my cross and said yes to the Lord,” he said, knowing that there would be no physical healing but rather a spiritual one. Baglieri then began a process of conversion, accepting his cross and reading the Bible.

He learned to write using his mouth and began to write his memoirs as well as letters that he sent to people in various parts of the world.

“Thanks to a stick, he dials telephone numbers and comes into direct contact with many sick people, and his calm and convincing words console them,” the Salesians related.

Nino joined the Salesian Cooperators but then decided to be part of the Volunteers with Don Bosco, consecrated laymen who profess vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, living their Salesian mission in their homes, work, and the everyday things of this world.

Baglieri was characterized by proclaiming with his life testimony joy and hope in the Lord. After suffering for a long time, which he bore with a smile, he died on March 2, 2007.

According to his wish, he was buried wearing sneakers because, as he said: “On my last journey to God I will be able to run to him.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.