Lamenting that child soldiers who should be in school in the Central African Republic “have been given guns instead of pens,” Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, the national capital, said that violence in the country has “sacrificed” a whole generation of promising youth.

Speaking exclusively to Crux in Yaounde in neighboring Cameroon, Nzapalainga spoke of a “lost generation” in his war-torn nation. “Children should not be carrying arms. They should be in school,” he said, before describing the youths as “a lost generation, because they are born into violence.”

Frequently drugged, Central Africa’s young people are manipulated by politicians to take up arms against segments of the society, thereby “creating tensions between Christians and Muslims,” the cardinal explained, in attempts to dispel the perception that the conflict in the CAR is a conflict of religions.

In this Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014 photo, Bangui Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga blesses Catholic faithful as he visits an aid distribution point inside a makeshift camp housing an estimated 100,000 displaced people, at Mpoko Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic. (Credit: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell.)

The cardinal drew parallels with what the Boko Haram insurgents are doing in Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger. “They force children to wear bombs and explode,” he said. “That is not the face of religion in these countries.” Stressing the non-religious nature of the conflict, Nzapalainga told Crux that “those who give out weapons are not imams, pastors or priests … people do not fight for the Koran or the Bible. They fight for diamond, gold, cows, to make money; they fight for political positioning, but in doing so, they use young people as sacrificial lambs.”

He said politicians give young people money and tell them to attack their opponents, and, in the face of excruciating poverty, many lack the moral strength to reject such offers. According to the United Nations, armed groups have recruited an estimated 10,000 orphaned children as fighters in the CAR.

A spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Marixie Mercado, told a news conference in Geneva that recruitment is happening on all sides, with reasons including poverty, despair, desire for revenge, and the general lack of options for children. There have been multiple reports of girls being used as sex slaves.

Violence as a means of acquiring political power has long been a part of the culture in the CAR. But the current crisis escalated in 2013 when a mainly Muslim coalition, called the Séléka, overthrew then-President François Bozizé, accusing the government of failing to abide by a 2007 peace deal.

Fighting between the two groups intensified, and, in September 2013, Djotodia disbanded the Séléka coalition that brought him to power because the movement had become too divided. Djotodia himself resigned in January 2014, giving power to the then Mayor of Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza.

A cease-fire agreed by the two camps in Brazzaville in July in 2014 didn’t last. By the end of the year, the predominantly Christian anti-Balaka were controlling the South and West of the country, and the mostly Muslim ex-Seleka controlled the north and east. The central government thus had little real control.

“Outside the capital Bangui, power rests in the hands of armed groups,” Nzapalainga said. “They control the transport infrastructure, they control the tax system, and they control everything. Government has soldiers, but they are badly trained and ill-equipped.”

Over a dozen armed groups control large parts of the country, exercising authority in various sectors, generally including economic activity. The CAR has known several conflicts since independence in 1960 and multiple attempts at peace, but reconciliation has remained elusive. The latest effort came in June, when a peace deal between the government and 13 armed groups was signed. That happened in the confines of an ancient gilded room in Rome belonging to the Community of Sant’Egidio, a movement known for its active role in conflict resolution.

The signatories said the document was a “road map” towards a solution to the crisis that was meant to open “the path to pacification in the Central African Republic.” But the accord lasted only 24 hours, with fighting then erupting in areas such as Bangassou, Alindao, and Bria regions.

Nzapalainga was reported to have initialed the peace agreement, but later denied any involvement, criticizing it for leaving “the door open to impunity for the perpetrators of violence.” However, he welcomed all initiatives intended to bring peace to the troubled country. “The Church has always stood for non-violence,” he told Crux. “Christ tells us that he who kills is in darkness, and if I succeed to tell someone to drop their gun, then I have won a soul.”

He said the Church has done enormous work to bring hope to the afflicted. It opens church doors to those fleeing the violence, and has mobilized the international community to come and help. “People have donated food, clothes, and some charities have contributed funds so we continue providing for those who have lost everything,” he said.

Remarkably young for a cardinal at 50, when Nzapalainga was named a Prince of the Church by Pope Francis in November 2016, he was the very first born after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65.)

Source: Crux

Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell arrived back in Australia on Monday ahead of a court appearance later this month over historical sex abuse charges. The 76-year-old, a top advisor to Pope Francis, touched down in Sydney and was met by security before being whisked away in a waiting car.

He has been ordered to face a Melbourne court on July 26 for a preliminary hearing on multiple sexual assault charges related to offences allegedly committed decades ago, when he was a senior cleric in Australia. The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has always maintained his innocence and strenuously denies the allegations. Details of the charges have not been made public although police said they involved “multiple complainants.”

A spokesperson for Pell said in a statement he would be making no comment, but was grateful for “the numerous messages of support he continues to receive.” “When he was told of the charges by Victoria Police Cardinal Pell said in Rome he totally rejected the allegations, was completely innocent of the charges and would return to Australia to vigorously defend himself and clear his name,” said the statement.

Pell, unofficially considered the number three in the Vatican hierarchy, said from Rome after being charged late last month that he was “looking forward finally to having my day in court.” Pell has been granted a leave of absence by the Pope, who made clear the cardinal would not be forced to resign his post as head of the Vatican’s powerful economic ministry.

The charges coincided with the final stages of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, ordered in 2012 after a decade of pressure to investigate widespread allegations of institutional paedophilia.

The commission has spoken to thousands of survivors and heard claims of child abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools. Pell appeared before the commission three times, once in person and twice via video-link from Rome. In one hearing, he admitted that he “mucked up” in dealing with paedophile priests in Victoria State in the 1970s.

(Source: AFP)

Pope Francis has refused to extend the mandate of the head of the Vatican office that handles sex abuse cases, replacing the conservative cardinal who is said to have been “at odds” with the pontiff’s attempts to create a more inclusive Church. In a brief Vatican statement on Saturday, Pope Francis appointed the deputy of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, as the new head of the office, declining to renew the five-year mandate of Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, its former head.

The 69-year-old Mueller allegedly had frequent clashes with the Pope over key reform issues, criticizing the pontiff’s openness to allowing civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion. The German cardinal had also censured parts of a 2016 papal treatise called “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love), a cornerstone document of Francis’ attempts to make the 1.2 billion-member Church more inclusive and less condemning, according to Reuters.
Mueller’s successor, the 73-year-old Ladaria from Spain had been appointed to the CDF by former Pope Benedict in 2008 and is said to be a soft-spoken person. “They (Ladaria and the Pope) speak the same language, and Ladaria is someone who is meek. He does not agitate the pope and does not threaten him,” said a priest who works in the Vatican and knows both Mueller and Ladaria, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Clearly, the Pope and Cardinal Mueller have not been on the same page for five years.”

The head of the CDF enjoys the most important position in the Vatican hierarchy after the Secretary of State, and most incumbents keep the post until they retire at the traditional age of 75. Mueller had been appointed to the powerful department by former Pope Benedict in 2012. In another major shakeup of the Vatican’s administration, the Pope granted a Vatican finance chief, Cardinal George Pell, a leave of absence from his position to return to his native Australia to face trial on sexual assault charges.

The Roman Catholic Church has been hit by numerous scandals in the past few years, involving allegations of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests to protect pedophiles and the reputation of the Church. The issue of abuses being concealed by the Church has left many child rights defenders, including Christians, disgruntled by the Church and has put Church authorities on the defensive.

Pope Francis, who was appointed in 2013 with a plan to overhaul the Vatican, has warned that there will be “no privileges” for bishops when it comes to child sex offenses. The pontiff also promised more action in response to accusations of cover-up and excessive leniency by the Vatican.

Source: Presstv

A new study shows that attending religious services like those at mosques, churches or synagogues may help you live longer. “We found in our study that actually attending church is actually good for your health, particularly for those who are between the ages of 40 and 65,” said Marino Bruce, the associate director of Vanderbilt’s Center for Research on Men’s Health, in a video posted on Vanderbilt University’s website on Friday.

The study showed reduced mortality risk by 55% for those middle-aged adults who go to churches, synagogues, mosques or other houses of worship. The study on “Church Attendance, Allostatic Load and Mortality in Middle Aged Adults” was published in the Plos One journal in May. “For those who did not attend church at all, they were twice as likely to die prematurely than those who did who attended church at some point over the last year,” Bruce said.

For the study a total of 5,449 participants of both sexes and races were recorded. The researchers used publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

“I’m ordained clergy so I’m always about what do we mean by our spiritual health. Does spiritual health matter with respect to biological outcomes?” Bruce added.  The study focused on the participants’ survey results, analyzing their worship attendance, mortality and allostatic load, which is a physiological measurement, and social support.

Bruce further emphasized, “While churches are places where people can get social support, we actually found that and began to think about whether compassion is particularly important — feeling that you’re doing good or having empathy for others.”

Culled from Presstv