(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle, President of Caritas Internationalis, urges us to remember that refugees are more than numbers or statistics.Reacting to Pope Francis’ visit to Lesbos on Saturday, Cardinal Tagle told Vatican Radio that he is sure many people have been touched by the Pope's words and actions. He said it reminded him of a trip he himself made last October to visit refugees in Idomini, Greece, where he noticed “how much the people, even the non-Christians, appreciated the love, humanity, and concern the Church has been extending to them.”Listen to Vatican Radio’s Alessandro Gisotti speaking with Cardinal Tagle about the Pope’s symbolic trip to Lesbos. Listen: Cardinal Tagle spoke positively of the visit’s impact, noting how it had no agenda. “There is no effort to win or convince people to become Christians or to give us something in return for anything good being given. This is pure, sincere...
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle, President of Caritas Internationalis, urges us to remember that refugees are more than numbers or statistics.
Reacting to Pope Francis’ visit to Lesbos on Saturday, Cardinal Tagle told Vatican Radio that he is sure many people have been touched by the Pope's words and actions. He said it reminded him of a trip he himself made last October to visit refugees in Idomini, Greece, where he noticed “how much the people, even the non-Christians, appreciated the love, humanity, and concern the Church has been extending to them.”
Listen to Vatican Radio’s Alessandro Gisotti speaking with Cardinal Tagle about the Pope’s symbolic trip to Lesbos.
Listen:
Cardinal Tagle spoke positively of the visit’s impact, noting how it had no agenda. “There is no effort to win or convince people to become Christians or to give us something in return for anything good being given. This is pure, sincere love. And that is the best testimony and the best witness to God, who is love.”
The Holy Father, he says, was also very "touched and confirmed in his faith."
Refugees, volunteers can teach us lessons "about being human"
“I thought we were the ones giving to the people. But it is the refugees and also the volunteers who teach us lessons about being human, about being dignified, and about being hopeful,” the Cardinal adds.
In light of Pope Francis’ call for mercy in the Jubilee year, Cardinal Tagle believes that actions are merciful when our hearts “see human beings” first. “The Holy Father, and others working in those camps are showing to the world that the external action, the work, is important but it must come from a merciful heart.” The trip, he says, reminds us that the refugees and migrants “are not just numbers and statistics. Our hearts must see human beings in them, so the work is really a merciful act. It’s not just some sort of obligation but really an act of compassion- It is ‘I see a brother, I see a sister, I see a neighbour.’”
Service to those in need can replace "fear of the other"
When asked if he thinks this visit will awaken the hearts and minds of Europeans, Cardinal Tagle expresses hope that the “fear of migrants” will be diminished. “Fear is often baseless, with no foundation,” he says. “When you ask people who are afraid of accepting some of the migrants and refugees if they have encountered a refugee or a migrant first-hand, they say no, they have not. But when you do encounter them, you see that children are just like any children who are hungry and get tired. And you see that mothers and fathers running away from war are just like our own fathers and mothers who long for a peaceful life for their children. With this, hopefully the fear will disappear and diminish, and we will see a way by which we can be of service to each other.”
A Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish procession honoring the patroness of Cuba on Sept. 7, 2023. / Credit: Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Havana, CubaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba has prohibited several Holy Week processions in different cities of the country, including the El Vedado area of Havana as well as in Bayamo, a town that was the scene of major protests earlier this month.Last week, ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, reported on the prohibition of processions in the Diocese of the Most Holy Savior located in the Bayamo-Manzanillo area in the province of Granma, due to the regime's fear that new protests would break out. The prohibition has been extended to the capital, Havana, according to a Catholic priest.In a March 25 Facebook post, Father Lester Zayas, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the El Vedado business district of Havana, reported that the day before he had been notifie...
The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord's Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David's tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this "Upper Room," called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles' feet, and instituted the Eucharist. It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher,...
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...