A mural of assassinated mayoral candidate Karina García Hungarian Church to set up abuse prevention system
Hungary’s Catholic Church says those anyone “proven” to have abused minors has “no place in the priesthood”.
In a statement released last Thursday, the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the country’s Church is setting up a permanent system for reporting mistreatment or sexual abuse by people in the Church – in line with an edict from Pope Francis.
The statement did not mention specific cases but noted that the bishops’ conference considers the mistreatment and sexual abuse of minors to be “unacceptable everywhere, particularly in the Church” and is doing everything possible against it.
In the 2011 census, 39% of Hungarians said they were Catholic, down from 54.5% in 2001.
Colombian bishops decry mayoral candidate killing
The secretary general of the Colombian bishops’ conference has deplored the assassination of Karina García, a mayoral candidate in the country’s southwest, and called for an end to the bloodshed in the country.
García, 31, was running for mayor of Suárez, in Cauca Department and was killed at the start of the month in an ambush along with her mother and four others.
Bishop Elkin Fernando Álvarez Botero, said that “as a Church we receive with profound sorrow this murder of one of the candidates for local office. We sent a message in the past few days with an appeal to avoid all forms of violence in the political campaigns, but this murder is a sign that we’re returning to those ways of violence which do not allow us to move forward”.
Argentine Church urges gov. to declare food emergency
The social ministry of the Argentine bishops’ conference has urged the government to declare a food emergency as the country’s economy careens into crisis.
“In the face of the severe rise in homelessness, poverty, unemployment and the indiscriminate rise in the price of food comprising the basic basket of goods, we find ourselves in a situation of food and nutritional emergency, which essentially affects the most vulnerable, especially children,” the bishops’ social ministry said in a statement.
Oldest cardinal in the world dies age 100
Colombian Cardinal Jose de Jesus Pimiento Rodriguez, who participated in the Second Vatican Council, has died at the age of 100.
Before his death on September 3, Cardinal Pimiento, the retired archbishop of Manizales, was the oldest cardinal in the world.
In a statement released after his death, the Colombian bishops’ conference said it mourned the cardinal’s death and praised him “for his contribution to peace in the country” as well as his efforts in “raising awareness for the common good and development” of his people.
Cardinal blesses and prays Catholic protestors in US
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, blessed and then prayed near a group of Catholics who blocked a crosswalk, arranging themselves in the shape of a cross in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark last week, to protest the detention of children and families in immigration facilities.
About 400 participated in the event, which included a procession toward the ICE building as the Newark archbishop led the crowd in a chant of “stop the inhumanity”.
“I ask Catholics and others of goodwill to contact their elected officials and urge them not to manipulate immigrant families as political pawns,” Cardinal Tobin said.