Morning Catholic must-reads

The Spanish senate has approved a sweeping new law liberalising abortion.

Pope Benedict XVI has said he is pained by the ongoing killings of Christians in Iraq.

The Pope meditated on penance yesterday at the mid-way point of his Lenten retreat.

Cardinal Walter Kasper has sent a message to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, marking the patriarch’s 70th birthday.

An image of Jesus holding a beer and a cigarette is creating tensions between Christians and Hindu fundamentalists in India.

Spanish journalist Manuel Lozano Garrido will be beatified on June 12.

Nashville is to get its first married Catholic priest.

George Weigel says Russia’s regional ambitions could present a great challenge to the Holy See’s diplomats.

Aggie Catholics explores the rise of Catholic “mega-parishes” in America.

Kevin Clarke asks if the last Christian in the Middle East will turn out the lights.

Christopher Tollefsen says the critics of home-schooling need to be tutored about the nature of education and the family.

Rome Reports profiles John Paul II’s friend, Wanda Poltawska (video).

The Times interviews Jessica Hausner, the director of new film about Lourdes.

And traditionalist Catholic priest Fr Seán Finnegan explains why he loves the Church of England.

Morning Catholic must-reads

Benedict XVI is expected to declare John Paul II Venerable on Saturday.

Blessed Mary MacKillop, whose canonisation is also expected to be announced tomorrow, is hailed as the “patron saint of troublemakers”.

Lawmakers have voted to liberalise Spain’s abortion laws, despite strong opposition from the Church.

Author Philip Pullman says he is “very disappointed” by claims that Catholics prevented the translation of the whole His Dark Materials trilogy to the silver screen.

The Vatican explains why former archbishop Emmanuel Milingo is no longer a priest.

Zenit interviews Cardinal Cordes, the Vatican’s “charity crusader”.

Egypt’s Muslims denounce the Swiss minaret vote but prevent Copts from building churches.

Theo Hobson argues that faith schools are damaging religious identity.

Cranmer decodes our political leaders’ Christmas cards.

The Catholic News Service reflects on Pope Benedict’s momentous year.

Fr James Schall SJ applauds President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize address.

A German Shepherd is to guard Pope Benedict’s home in Bavaria.

And Andrew M Brown urges you to build your own Nativity stable.

This morning’s Catholic must-reads

Vatican Radio reports on Pope Benedict’s prayer on Sunday for missionaries murdered in Africa (audio).

The Pope met 59 new priests of the embattled Legion of Christ yesterday, Zenit reports.

Cardinal Brady tells Vatican Radio last week’s meeting with the Pope to discuss the Irish abuse crisis was “sad and serious” (audio).

Australia is preparing for a major announcement about the Cause of Blessed Mary MacKillop.

The postulator of Newman’s Cause will undertake a huge fundraising drive in the United States in 2010.

Robert George explains why he co- authored the Manhattan Declaration.

Fr John Flynn examines the “rebirth” of population control.

Jeffrey Steel is shocked by the case of fathers jailed in Germany for refusing to send their children to mandatory sex education classes.

NLM rejoices in the opening of the Cause of Empress Zita.

No Hidden Magenta looks at the precedents for electing bishops in the wake of the Irish abuse scandal.

And a recently released transcript sheds light on John Paul II’s historic meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989.

Obama, John Paul II and the duty of humanitarian intervention

President Barack Obama listens to remarks during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in the Main Hall of Oslo City Hall in Oslo (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Many people have already commented on the theological content of Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

I was struck by this section, which seems to echo an idea of John Paul II (who was given a nod elsewhere in the speech):

I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.

In the 1990s John Paul II argued that the international community had a “duty” of “humanitarian intervention”.

In an address to the International Nutrition Conference in 1992 he said:

[T]he idea is maturing within the international community that humanitarian action, far from being the right of the strongest, must be inspired by the conviction that intervention, or even interference when objective situations require it, is a response to a moral obligation to come to the aid of individuals, peoples or ethnic groups whose fundamental right to nutrition has been denied to the point of threatening their existence.

He returned to this point in his World Day of Peace message in the year 2000 he said:

In every case, in the face of such tragic and complex situations and contrary to all alleged ‘reasons’ of war, there is a need to affirm the preeminent value of humanitarian law and the consequent duty to guarantee the right to humanitarian aid to suffering civilians and refugees.

The recognition of these rights and their effective implementation must not be allowed to depend on the interests of any of the parties in conflict. On the contrary, there is a duty to identify all the means, institutional or otherwise, which can best serve in a practical way to meet humanitarian objectives. The moral and political legitimacy of these rights is in fact based on the principle that the good of the human person comes before all else and stands above all human institutions.

Santo subito? Probably not

Rocco Palmo explains why, contrary to reports, John Paul II is unlikely to be beatified in 2010.

Photo: Pilgrims display portraits of John Paul II and Benedict XVI during Pope Benedict’s weekly audience in St Peter’s Square on September 27 2006 (CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters)

John Paul II: Blessed in 2010?

The Telegraph reports that the beatification of John Paul II could be just months away.

The paper quotes Gianni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome, as saying: “These are internal decisions [for the Vatican] but it is expected to take place at the latest by next year.”

The Vatican is reportedly still considering whether the “miraculous” healing of a French nun of Parkinson’s disease was due to the late pope’s intercession.

But in the absence of an official announcement the report is probably simply intriguing guesswork.

Photo: John Paul II greets Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on October 22 1978 (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

Pope to visit ‘elder brothers’ in Rome

Confirmed: Pope Benedict will visit Rome’s main synagogue on January 17.

John Paul II made a historic visit to the synagogue on April 14 1986. He is pictured speaking to the then Chief Rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff.

‘Gentlemen, something is about to happen’

John Allen reports on a candid interview Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne has just given to his archdiocesan paper.

The East German cardinal suggests that, when John Paul II appointed him to the West German see in 1988, the pontiff recognised before most that the Iron Curtain was about to fall.

“The pope sent a clear signal,” Cardinal Meisner explains. “‘Gentlemen, pay attention, because something is about to happen.’”