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Pro-lifers say ‘therapeutic’ abortion on minor in Peru exploited to push legal abortion

null / Credit: Yupa Watchanakit/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 26, 2023 / 18:50 pm (CNA).

After getting approval from the medical board of the National Maternal Perinatal Institute of Lima (INMP), a “therapeutic” abortion was performed on a girl under 11 years of age who became pregnant as a result of alleged abuse committed by her stepfather in the Áncash region of northern Peru.

The case, which is very similar to another that occurred in August, has created a great deal of controversy. Carlos Polo, director of the Latin American Office of the Population Research Institute, believes that abortion organizations are using situations like these to push for legalized abortion in Peru.

“It is no coincidence that several cases with the same characteristics come up in a short period of time and they all end up in the same place [the INMP] and in the same way,” Polo told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “This leads us to think that these cases of ‘express abortion’ are not isolated events. They are the tactic of a plan to expand the ‘therapeutic’ abortion protocol to cases of rape, abortion for minors, congenital fetal deformities, and mental health.” 

Although abortion remains a crime, Article 119 of the Penal Code states that “it is not punishable” when “it is the only means to save the life of the pregnant woman or to avoid serious and permanent harm to her health.” Likewise, in 2014 the executive branch approved the guide for doing therapeutic abortions, which allows the procedure up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

“Currently this protocol is governed by the objective need for medical care in an obstetric emergency in which there is no other means to save life or avoid serious and permanent harm to the mother. But for abortion organizations, the objective is for abortion to be legal due to a woman’s simple desire to continue the pregnancy or terminate it,” Polo maintained.

The girl, who was 22 weeks pregnant, had health problems so she was transferred to Lima to receive health care. According to medical reports, she is in a stable condition after the abortion, which took place during the early hours of Sept. 20.

As for the alleged person responsible for the systematic sexual abuse, Roy Cruz Lozano has been held for the last nine months in preventive detention in the city of Huaraz while the prosecution’s investigation continues.

In August, a similar case created a controversy when the National Maternal Perinatal Institute also approved the “therapeutic” abortion of a minor (nicknamed “Mila” to keep her name confidential), who was 18 weeks pregnant after being raped, despite the fact that the first medical board to review her case determined that an abortion was not necessary. 

The argument given by a second medical board for overruling the initial decision was: “To avoid serious or permanent harm to her physical and mental health.”

Since the case of the girl from Áncash became known, the media, activists, nongovernmental organizations, and the United Nations itself have pressured the Peruvian government to have the abortion done.

According to Polo, “none of these cases meet any grounds currently established in the therapeutic abortion protocol but rather are grounds that they want to introduce.”

“If the INMP doctors were so sure that they were doing the right and legal thing, they would have no reason to be hiding information about the medical condition of these girls,” the director for the Population Research Institute pointed out.

On Aug. 14, the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference expressed its strong rejection of the decision to approve Mila’s “therapeutic” abortion and called for the lives of both the mother and the child to be protected.

“Let us remember that in a pregnancy due to rape there are three people: the rapist, the victim, and an innocent person. In this case, an innocent  person has been sentenced to death, the victim has been exposed to greater harm, and the criminal has been set free. An evil, in this case, a direct abortion, cannot be justified to supposedly obtain the well-being of another person,” the Peruvian bishops said at that time.

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

Explosion kills 68 Armenian refugees as thousands flee Nagorno-Karabakh

Refugees wait next to a line of vehicles near the border town of Kornidzor, Armenia, arriving from Nagorno-Karabakh, on Sept. 26, 2023. / Credit: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 26, 2023 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

As thousands of ethnic Armenians flee the Nagorno-Karabakh region following a violent takeover by Azerbaijan, a fuel depot exploded Monday night killing at least 68 refugees and injuring hundreds.

Officials representing the people of Nagorno-Karabakh confirmed the casualties in a Facebook statement, adding that the fate of 105 Nagorno-Karabakh refugees is still unknown.

The explosion occurred just off a highway leading away from Stepanakert, where tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians have taken to the road to flee to Armenia proper. 

Local news source the Nagorno Karabakh Observer reported the explosion blew up a 50-ton underground fuel tank. 

Following a short but intense military offensive by Azerbaijan on Sept. 19, ethnic Armenians, who until last week claimed self-sovereignty under the auspices of the Republic of Artsakh, are in a panic to escape Azeri rule. 

The Azeri assault, which they labeled “antiterror measures,” came after a nine-month blockade that cut off all outside food, medicine, and supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Though the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev has said he wishes to integrate the ethnic Armenians, human rights experts have warned he intends to ethnically cleanse the region. Some advocates, such as Eric Hacopian, who has been on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, accused the Azeris of pursuing “genocide” against the Armenian people in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since last week a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians fleeing their ancestral homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh has begun.

Hacopian said that he expects “95% to 99%” of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to flee the region.

The Armenian government reported on Tuesday that already 28,120 “forcibly displaced persons” from Nagorno-Karabakh have crossed into Armenia.

Footage published by the Nagorno Karabakh Observer on Tuesday showed what appears to be a miles-long line of cars attempting to escape the region for Armenia.

“The normal travel time of two hours [is] now taking 20 or more,” the Nagorno Karabakh Observer reported Tuesday, adding that “kids [are] the hardest hit, with little food after months of blockade.”

According to the Nagorno Karabakh Observer, “cars are literally halted, as vehicles [are] checked one-by-one by Azeri officials.”

White House responds 

Adrienne Watson, a White House National Security Council spokesperson, responded to the explosion in a Tuesday statement. 

“We are saddened by the news that at least 68 people have been killed and hundreds injured in an explosion at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh and express deep sympathy to the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and to all of those suffering,” Watson said. “We urge continued humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for all those in need.” 

Watson pointed out that Samantha Power, chief administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is currently on the ground in Armenia and announced the U.S. would be sending “additional humanitarian assistance,” including hygiene kits, blankets, and clothing, “to address the needs of those affected or displaced by violence in Nagorno-Karabakh.” 

“Since 2020, we have supported the provision of food, water, emergency medical care, and evacuations, and family reunifications for conflict-affected communities in Nagorno-Karabakh and the region,” Watson went on. “The United States will continue to support those affected by the ongoing crisis as 28,000 people have crossed into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh.”

What is going on? 

Both former Soviet territories, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. With the backing of Turkey, Azerbaijan asserted its military dominance over Armenia in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which ended in November 2020.

Though Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the region is almost entirely made up of ethnic Armenian Christians.

After the Azeri assault last week, the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed on Sept. 20 to a cease-fire that resulted in the dismantling of their military and self-governance.

Some experts believe that Armenia itself is in danger of invasion by Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey in the near future. 

Hacopian said he believes an invasion of Armenia is “quite likely.” 

Church warns that southern Mexico is ‘torn by violence’

Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez of Chiapas, Mexico, with a message of peace. / Credit: Parish Community of San Juan Bautista

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 26, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez, the bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas, warned in a Sept. 23 letter posted on Facebook that the country’s south is “torn by violence” due to the confrontations between criminal gangs.

Sept. 23 videos that went viral on social media show a convoy of pickup trucks — presumably from the criminal organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel — driving through the streets of towns in Chiapas as hundreds of residents stood lining the street.

According to the local press, residents of the southern region of Mexico are forced to support or even join the ranks of organized crime, while clashes between drug trafficking cartels are affecting more than 200,000 inhabitants in the region.

As a result, Aguilar stated that “criminal gangs have taken over our territory and we find ourselves in a state of siege, under social psychosis with road blockades set up by drug gangs, which use civil society as a human barrier” putting the lives of citizens and their families at risk.

In the letter, the bishop charged that organized crime commits “kidnappings, and disappearances, makes threats, harasses people, takes natural resources, persecutes people and dispossesses their assets, the fruit of our work.”

The prelate pointed out that this situation has created food shortages, such as of basic grains and other goods, as well as a lack of medical care and medicines.

Aguilar charged that there is “social, political, and psychological pressure and control from different gangs such that the people take sides with one or another crime gang.”

The bishop blamed the authorities at all levels for “ignoring the complaints of civil society” and demanded that they “urgently” address the “cases of violence and insecurity that are destroying the lives of our people.”

Furthermore, he demanded that the authorities “immediately issue and execute the arrest warrants for the leaders of these crime gangs” and “restore social order without doing harm to civil society.”

At a Sept. 25 a press conference, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, stated that the incidents of violence in Chiapas are “a matter very limited to one region” and that the videos that were posted are a strategy of his political opponents to make it seem that “drug trafficking dominates throughout Chiapas and throughout Mexico.”

The Diocese of Tapachula, located in the far south of Chiapas near the border with Guatemala, promised to help the residents of the region “as soon as the roads are open to reach them.” For now, Bishop Jaime Calderón Calderón expressed his closeness and encouragement “in these moments of suffering and scarcity” and lamented that “it’s always the children who suffer the most.”

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

Lone Michigan Democrat holds up ‘extreme’ pro-abortion bill

Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Michigan, speaks at a meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 2020. / Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Sep 26, 2023 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

A Democratic state representative in Michigan, Karen Whitsett, has said she will not support a slate of pro-abortion bills being pushed by governor and fellow Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, citing her constituents’ wishes and her own support for the state’s 24-hour abortion waiting period. 

Whitsett, who explained to CNA she was a survivor of rape who had an abortion, said she supports the idea of a waiting period for abortions to ensure that women are not being forced to abort their children. 

“I don’t see anything wrong with being asked if you are being coerced into a termination,” she said, explaining why she plans to vote against that provision. 

Since her announcement that she would not support the abortion bills, a coalition of pro-abortion groups have launched a campaign criticizing Whitsett, led by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, a group that characterized Whitsett’s stance a “betrayal.”

Currently in Michigan, abortion is available up until birth, with a waiting period. In November 2022, Michiganders voted to explicitly make abortion a “right” in their state constitution.

A package of 11 bills collectively dubbed the “Reproductive Health Act,” House Bills 4949-59, would put into state law the constitutional language enshrining abortion access and repeal several regulations lawmakers say are in conflict with that access, the Detroit News reported. 

Among the regulations being repealed is the state’s abortion waiting period, a prohibition on partial-birth abortions, a requirement that women seeking an abortion be screened to determine whether they have been coerced to do so, and state requirements to dispose of fetal remains safely and humanely.

Another provision in the bills would repeal Michigan building code regulations that require clinics providing more than 120 surgical abortions a year to be licensed as freestanding surgical outpatient facilities, with mandates related to hallway widths, ceiling heights, and HVAC standards, the Detroit News said. 

The bill package would also require Medicaid to cover abortions for Medicaid recipients. Michigan law currently prohibits the use of Medicaid funding for elective abortions — only covering those related to rape, incest, or the life of the mother — and mandate that private health plans require a rider with an added premium for abortion coverage. 

Whitsett told CNA that although she considers herself pro-choice, she has heard from many of her constituents in Detroit that they do not support the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortions, and that she intends to continue “voting the way of the people who elected me.” 

Whitsett said the negotiations related to the abortion bills have “gone 100 miles an hour” and reiterated that although she is a supporter of abortion, “What we’re currently voting on, I have a problem with.” The divided nature of the Michigan House means all 56 Democrats are required to vote in lockstep to approve controversial legislation, unless any Republicans cross the aisle.

The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC), which advocates for policy in the state, called Whitsett’s refusal to advance the bills a “[sign] of hope that movement on the RHA is slowing down.” 

“The bills that emerged from committee are likely the most extreme policies passed in the recent history of the Legislature due to their blatant prioritization of the abortion industry over women’s health and safety,” said Rebecca Mastee, policy advocate for the MCC, in a recent statement.

“The Reproductive Health Act would advance an unregulated abortion environment in Michigan, prioritizing the financial, political, and business interests of the abortion industry over the health and safety of women in this state.” 

Whitsett said that as of Monday afternoon, her Democratic colleagues in the House have not contacted her seeking her views on the bills.

“To be attacked because I’m not a rubber stamp for the Democratic Party makes zero sense to me,” she told CNA. 

At least 17 other states already allow the use of Medicaid funds to pay for elective abortions, despite a federal policy known as the Hyde Amendment prohibiting the use of federal tax dollars to pay for elective abortions. Hyde does not restrict states’ ability to use state tax dollars to pay for abortion, meaning states that want to pay for abortions through their Medicaid program can do so out of their own coffers and not be reimbursed by the federal government.

An analysis by the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency found that the proposed Medicaid provision would increase Michigan’s Medicaid costs by $2 million to $6 million, as “a greater percentage of abortions in this state would be paid for with state funds, rather than nonstate resources.”

India’s Christian rights network not hopeful after meeting with minorities commission

John Dayal (middle) and activists in July 2022 in New Delhi to mark the anniversary of Jesuit Father Stansamy, who died in police custody on trumped up terrorism charges. / Credit: Anto Akkara

Kochi, India, Sep 26, 2023 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Christian leaders in India said that a Sept. 21 meeting with the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) did little to reassure them that the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is serious about addressing the ongoing persecution of Christians in the country.

“While the positive is that there is some conversation, I do not set hopes very high,” said John Dayal, an outspoken Catholic activist and spokesperson for the United Christian Forum (UCF), a human rights organization that runs a toll-free service to record atrocities against Christians and extend support to the victims.

Iqbal Singh Lalpura, chairman of the NCM, met last week with Dayal and a delegation that included UCF president Michael Williams, coordinator A C Michael, Tehmina Arora of Alliance Defending Freedom, and Siju Thomas, a lawyer.

The commission, which acts as the watchdog of minority rights in the country, “has asked us to submit more details of the issues we have raised in the letter to the prime minister,” the UCF said in a press release following the meeting.

The UCF press statement also noted that commission chairman Lalpura, a former leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), assured the delegation that the commission will work to address cases of persecution of Christians and proposed that a “joint team to tour some of the areas where such communal issues are regularly occurring.”

Dayal told CNA Sunday that it is not clear that the government is serious about pursuing cases of violence against Christians.

“The chair wants the Christians to do the work and then police will investigate. He did not explain how communal violence data will be collected if government agencies do not,” said Dayal of the meeting that was organized in response to a UCF letter to Prime Minister Modi shortly after Easter.

Dayal further lamented that “the commission has no Christian member. Christians are now [under] the charge of the Buddhist member, a lady from Ladakh” in the northern Himalayas bordering China.

Under the provisions of the NCM Act of 1992, each of the six religious minorities of India (Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians) are to be represented in the autonomous commission for three years.

The NCM chairman, Dayal noted, “also confessed that Prime Minister [Modi] himself had removed the 15-point program” for the welfare of religious minorities saying, “all development is for everyone without bias. So why special reservations?”

Data on anti-Christian violence

As India geared up to host the G20 meeting in New Delhi, with heads of top 20 countries including U.S. President Joe Biden joining the summit, the UCF brought out data documenting the increase in incidents of anti-Christian violence under the Modi regime.

“In the first 212 days of this year, 2023, 525 incidents of violence against Christians have been reported from 23 states of India in just eight months … All these incidents of violence are by mob violence led by vigilante groups of a particular faith who are allegedly receiving support from people in power,” the UCF press release pointed out.

“Attacks against Christians do not stop with mob violence only: 520 Christians have been arrested — accused of false forced conversions without evidence,” UCF elaborated. The organization noted that atrocities against Christians numbered over 100 when Modi took office in 2014 and shot up to 505 in 2022.

Canadian bishops prepare for synod, discuss humanitarian efforts in Honduras

null / Credit: BUTENKOV ALEKSEI/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 26, 2023 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Canadian bishops prepared for the upcoming Synod on Synodality and highlighted their work in Honduras on the first day of the 2023 Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops gathered Monday in King City, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, for their four-day annual meeting. Speaking to reporters in a news conference after the first day, Vancouver Archbishop John Michael Miller discussed the bishops’ synod preparations. There will be four Canadian bishops representing the country and four non-bishop representatives.

“[We had] a little bit of a trial run as [to] how the synod in Rome should proceed,” Miller said. 

Unlike previous synods, Miller said the Synod on Synodality will likely be “mostly discussion in small groups, probably language groups” rather than an auditorium setting. So instead of making major presentations at their meeting on the first day, they tried to create an environment similar to what is expected at the synod.

“[It was] a small taste in our small-group discussions at our meeting today,” Miller noted.

The archbishop added that the synod will be aimed at “being opened toward many voices” and the synodal process “is based on listening to the voice of the Spirit.” He said there will be a “great emphasis” on voices within the Church and a focus on what the Holy Spirit is saying within the churches, but that the Holy Spirit speaks in many ways. 

“The Spirit speaks in many ways in the world and we should be attentive to those voices as well,” Miller said.

The Synod on Synodality will take place in Rome through two assemblies — one which is set for Oct. 4 through Oct. 28 and another that will take place in October 2024. The synod will focus on questions about how the Church can be a sign and instrument of union between God and humanity; how to better share gifts and tasks in the service of the Gospel; and on the processes, structures, and institutions in a missionary synodal Church.

Synodality, as defined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s International Theological Commission, is “the action of the Spirit in the communion of the Body of Christ and in the missionary journey of the people of God.”

Humanitarian efforts in Honduras

At their meeting Monday, the bishops also discussed humanitarian efforts in Honduras, particularly the work in Guapinol to protect a river that has been severely affected by pollution, negatively impacting the small village’s population of 45,000 people. 

“Suddenly their life has become just like a terrible [situation], not being able to use their river, which is the heart of their life,” M. Carl Hétu, the executive director of development and peace, said during the news conference. 

Hétu said he provided the bishops with the fall action plan to “stop the mining,” which is causing pollution and “to restore the river and restore the [physical and mental] health” of the people. He said the mission is currently gathering signatures and requesting action from the Honduran ambassador to Canada.

The problems in Guapinol are similar to problems in Africa and Asia, where the “protection of the environment [and the] protection of labor and children is no longer respected” when companies are searching for raw materials, according to Hétu. 

During their meeting this week, the bishops will also address the expansion of euthanasia in Canada and the protection of vulnerable persons, including minors.

Cardinal Dolan says Biden ‘doesn’t take my calls’ on migrant crisis in New York City

Cardinal Timothy Dolan. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/CNA

CNA Staff, Sep 26, 2023 / 16:08 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said in an interview that President Joe Biden is ignoring his calls about the “tragic, broken” migrant system in the U.S., which has landed tens of thousands of migrants and refugees in New York City, filling shelters to capacity. 

“He doesn’t take my calls or answer my letters,” the cardinal told the New York Post. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last week that 60,000 migrants who crossed the southern border are in New York City, while 10,000 more are expected to come each month. Adams’ office said in a press release last week that since the beginning of the crisis, more than 116,000 migrants have been housed in the city. 

In an interview on Sunday, Adams said that if the city doesn’t continue to receive support from the federal government, the outcome for New York City could be “extremely devastating.”

The mayor has been voicing his concerns for the city throughout the overwhelming influx of migrants and said in July: “It’s not going to get any better. From this moment on it’s downhill. There is no more room.”

Commenting on the droves of migrants coming to the city, Dolan told the outlet that “New York just can’t handle them all, we know that.”

“It’s very unfair. This is a New York problem, but it’s not just a New York problem. It is an American problem,” he added.

The cardinal said that he has spoken with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, “a number of times” and “haven’t gotten too much consolation.”

Dolan, however, praised Adams for his efforts during the crisis. 

“I give Mayor Adams a lot of credit. He tells us where he needs help,” the cardinal said.

“He’s been very good about rallying religious leaders, asking our help to advocate with the federal government, which has done hardly anything, [and] with the state government, which hasn’t done much,” he added.

In June, the mayor announced a partnership with faith-based organizations to house migrants temporarily.

The Archdiocese of New York has designated 10 facilities for housing migrants, the outlet reported.

In addition to working with asylum-seeking migrant families to address their imminent needs, Catholic Charities has provided resources to help with migrant intake and recordkeeping, Dolan said. 

The archdiocese is also providing legal assistance, schooling, and health to the migrants, he added.

“Every day hundreds come in,” Dolan said. “We look them in the eyes, get their names, and we love them and we say, ‘You’re part of us now. You’re not a number.'” 

He said, however, that the archdiocese is overwhelmed with cases.

“Like everybody else, we’re squashed,” he said. “But we can’t give up.”

Parishes such as St. Teresa Church and the Church of the Ascension are providing food, clothing, and school supplies, the Post reported. 

Dolan said that priests are at those churches ministering to the people, but the current immigration system is “terribly wrecked” and in need of reform.

“The Church has always been very supportive of the right of a nation to have borders and border security … we don’t just want borders where anybody can come in,” he said. 

Dolan said the Church has a “high obligation” to care for migrants coming in.

“For us, it’s not so much about politics and policy … we have to leave that to others,” he said. “Our sacred responsibility is to help them. We hate to see these people suffer.”

Dolan could not be reached for comment by Tuesday. 

Adams has estimated that taking care of migrants could cost the city $12 billion over three fiscal years.

Last week, the Biden administration approved temporary legal status for large groups of Venezuelan and Afghan migrants, which will allow them to begin working in the United States.

Adams thanked the Biden administration for the move but said the status of many migrants within the city remains to be addressed.

“You know, but we want to be clear: We cannot spike the ball, because this is not going to deal with all of the migrants and asylum seekers who are in this city. We have about 60,000 in our care, 10,000 a month, and many of those new arrivals won’t be able to apply for the TPS [temporary protected status] and for the other benefits of this initiative,” Adams said in his Sunday interview on WABC’s “Up Close With Bill Ritter.”

Family who fled Germany to home-school their kids faces deportation from the U.S.

The Romeike family fled from Germany in order to home-school their children and now faces deportation from the U.S. / Credit: The Romeike Family

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 26, 2023 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

A German family that has lived in the United States for more than a decade after leaving their home country in order to legally home-school their children faces possible deportation next month, their supporters said.

The Romeikes — father Uwe, mother Hannelore, and their then-five children — fled Germany in 2009 over the country’s severe compulsory education laws, which effectively outlaw home schooling and require all children to attend school outside the home.

The evangelical Christian family has had two more children since arriving in the U.S. and made their home in Tennessee. The couple initially sought asylum from the federal government, claiming religious persecution from German authorities. 

They were eventually granted indefinitely deferred action status by the Obama administration, allowing them to reside in the U.S. for more than a decade. 

The Home School Legal Defense Association — a pro-home schooling nonprofit that has advocated the Romeikes’ case over the years — said in a release last week that during a recent “routine check-in” with immigration officials they were “told … that they had four weeks to secure passports and return to Germany.” 

“The news came without warning, and with no apparent cause or explanation,” HSLDA said. 

Kevin Boden, an attorney with HSLDA and the director of HSLDA International, told CNA that it is unclear what may or may not occur at next month’s meeting. 

“They were basically given four weeks to come back,” Boden said. “They have a report date in October. They don’t know what is going to happen in that meeting. They don’t know if they’re going to be forced to leave. They don’t know if they’re going to be taken into custody.” 

“‘Come back in four weeks and bring your passports,’” Boden added. “That combination is a little bit scary.”

The attorney said HSLDA is continuing to work with the family. The nonprofit group had originally helped litigate the family’s unsuccessful asylum attempt all the way to the Supreme Court; the court ultimately turned down the family’s appeal without hearing it. HSLDA is now pursuing a variety of options to secure the family’s continued status in the U.S. 

“We’re working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through those legal channels,” Boden said. “We’re pursuing a petition to the White House, to the Biden administration.” 

The group is also asking supporters to reach out to their congressional representatives to urge support for a bill from Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger that would allow the family to claim permanent resident status. 

“Those things would provide some impetus for the Romeikes to stay in the country, or at least give them a little bit of time,” he said. 

The Romeikes did not respond to a request for comment. Reached via email, a spokesman for the Biden Department of Justice responded: “We respectfully decline to comment.” ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

The two eldest Romeike children have since married U.S. citizens; their eldest daughter, Lydia, has one child with her American husband. The family’s two youngest daughters, meanwhile, are U.S. citizens by birth. 

Once a rare practice controlled heavily by state regulation, home schooling in the U.S. has expanded in recent decades due to the efforts of groups like the HSLDA. 

It is legal in every state, with HSLDA listing the majority of states as having only “low” or “moderate” home school regulation. 

Home schooling in Europe is much more tightly regulated. Many countries there outlaw it entirely, with others allowing it but only under strict guidelines.

New book explores J.R.R. Tolkien’s faith and how it imbued his work

The cover of “Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography” by Holly Ordway. / Credit: Word on Fire

CNA Staff, Sep 26, 2023 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

Most people are likely aware — at least vaguely — that J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” was Catholic. 

Fewer, perhaps, know how seriously he took his faith, in a time and place where being Catholic carried serious negative societal consequences. 

A new book from Word on Fire — “Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography” — explores the renowned fantasy author’s Catholic faith and how it influenced his stories, delving primarily into Tolkien’s own writings and interviews as well as the testimonies of those who knew him best. 

Holly Ordway, the book’s author, told CNA that she sought to create a book that is inviting and accessible to non-Catholics. The book itself seeks to explain the Catholic faith that Tolkien had, she said, but in an objective way, not in a way that the reader — who is perhaps a Tolkien fan, but has no understanding of Catholicism — is “hit over the head with a heavy-handed Christian message.”

“I was one of those readers, because I am myself a convert. I first read ‘Lord of the Rings’ as a non-Christian and loved it,” Ordway told CNA. 

“I’ve aimed to help readers understand Tolkien’s faith on his own terms, neither praising or criticizing it.”

Today, Ordway is the Cardinal Francis George professor of faith and culture at the Word on Fire Institute and visiting professor of apologetics at Houston Christian University. She said she was inspired, in part, to undertake the book to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Tolkien’s death on Sept. 2, 2023, but also because she had come to realize that a book solely dedicated to Tolkien’s faith had yet to be written. Humphrey Carpenter’s official biography mentions his faith, she said, but only as relates to the faith of his mother; other biographical media, such as a 2019 biopic, barely mention his faith at all. 

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, born in 1892, was baptized an Anglican in South Africa, where his family lived before he; his mother, Mabel; and his brother, Hillary, moved to Birmingham, England. 

Tolkien’s father died suddenly while still in South Africa, leaving Mabel to raise the two boys alone. During this time, Mabel converted to Catholicism. Tolkien made the choice to follow his mother into her new faith, receiving the sacraments of holy Communion and Confirmation at the age of 12. 

It’s hard to overstate how consequential Mabel and John’s conversions were. Mabel’s family cut off all financial and emotional support permanently, leaving the family destitute. Tolkien later described Mabel, who died in 1904 when she was only 34 and he was 12, as a “martyr.” 

Ordway found that it was far from a foregone conclusion that Tolkien would retain the faith he embraced as a child. The familial and societal challenges that presented themselves were bad enough, not to mention Tolkien’s horrific experiences in the trenches of World War I, which challenged his faith and shaped his worldview immensely.

Additionally, Ordway said her extensive research for the book included a look at the anti-Catholic climate of the time in order to accurately paint a picture of just how consequential Tolkien’s conversion was.

“Recognizing exactly how anti-Catholic English culture was when he was growing up makes it all the more remarkable that he was incredibly generous-spirited towards other traditions,” she commented. 

Father Francis Morgan, a priest of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London, would later take on a major role in Tolkien’s life as a substitute father figure. Tolkien wrote proudly of his Catholic faith, including his love for the Eucharist, and was strengthened in his Christian convictions by his friendship with C.S. Lewis, a highly renowned Christian author in his own right.

Tolkien is very clear in his writings that “The Lord of the Rings” is not a Christian allegory, contrasting the “Narnia” books by his friend Lewis. He nevertheless described “The Lord of the Rings” as “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work.”

Ordway said it is clear that Tolkien’s Catholic worldview is infused in his stories. 

“There are Marian figures, there are Christ-like figures … what he’s imbuing into the story is the fundamentally religious element. I think he chose that word carefully … fundamentally at the fundamentals, at the roots. So things like his understanding of good and evil, and he has a very clearly Catholic understanding of that,” Ordway said. 

“He says, ‘I don’t believe in absolute evil, but I do believe in absolute good.’ So he’s explicitly rejecting a dualistic view of the world and he’s affirming the fundamental Catholic view. God does not have an ontologically equivalent opposite. God is the supreme, and evil is parasitic.”

Tolkien also prizes in his books the virtues of pity and mercy, which are “fundamentally Christian concepts,” Ordway said. “The Lord of the Rings” also strongly proffers the idea that suffering — while real and painful — can also be redemptive. 

“I think that is a message that is profoundly Christian, profoundly Catholic, and profoundly meaningful. It speaks to people even if they don’t know that it has any connection to the Christian faith,” Ordway said.

“Even if you don’t recognize the fact that these elements are Christian, I think people are still responding to the reality of it. They’re still experiencing the beauty of goodness and the sordidness of evil and wanting goodness to prevail. And that’s a big deal in today’s world, to recognize something as fundamental as the reality of goodness,” she continued. 

“By the time someone who’s not a Christian, by the time they get to the end of [my] book, first of all, they will know a lot more about Christianity and Catholicism than they did before … they’ll see that whatever Tolkien believed, it wasn’t simple or trivial or foolish. It was something substantial. It meant a lot to him. And that opens the door for them to say, ‘Maybe I should look into this some more.’”

Pope Francis’ next environmental document to be called ‘Laudate Deum’

Pope Francis meets with Latin American university rectors on Sept. 21, 2023, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Sep 26, 2023 / 14:18 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ new document on the environment, to be released Oct. 4, will be called Laudate Deum.

The pope shared the name of his latest apostolic exhortation during a meeting with Latin American university rectors on Sept. 21, though the speech was only made public by Vatican News in Spanish on Monday afternoon.

According to Vatican News, while speaking about the environment and the “culture of abandonment,” Pope Francis revealed that his new document on the topic will be titled Laudate Deum, which means “Praise God” in Latin.

It will be, he said, “a look at what has happened and say what needs to be done,” Vatican News reported.

In the same speech to 200 university personnel, Francis reflected on what he has termed a throwaway culture, saying it reveals “a lack of education to use the things that remain, to remake them, to replace them in the order of the common use of things.”

He encouraged a “good use of nature,” including practical actions that can help the environment, such as the installation of solar panels.

The pope also noted how environmental degradation can lead to another kind of “degradation,” namely, in how we treat others, especially those who are already living with fewer resources.

Pope Francis announced last month he would be releasing a follow-up document to the 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. He later said it would be published on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

Oct. 4 is also the first day of a monthlong assembly for the Synod on Synodality and the conclusion of the Season of Creation, a Vatican-supported ecumenical initiative about caring for the environment.

Laudato Si’ is the second of three encyclicals published in Pope Francis’ pontificate thus far. It was released in June 2015.

The theme of the encyclical, which means “Praise be to you,” is human ecology, a phrase first used by Pope Benedict XVI. The document addresses issues such as climate change, care for the environment, and the defense of human life and dignity.

Pope Francis said Aug. 30 that the second part to Laudato Si’ would be the kind of papal document known as an “exhortation.”

Francis has so far published five apostolic exhortations during his pontificate, including Evangelii Gaudium in 2013 and Amoris Laetitia in 2016.

The feast of St. Francis of Assisi was also the date in 2020 that Pope Francis chose to release his most recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, about fraternity and social friendship.