Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Smoke billows into the air behind a Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Kyiv, Ukraine, after a missile attack on July 8, 2024. / Credit: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2024 / 12:19 pm (CNA).

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has condemned a “horrifying” alleged Russian attack that struck a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

A Monday press release on the UGCC’s website said that Russian forces had “launched a massive missile attack” that resulted in hits on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital as well as “a private maternity hospital in Kyiv.”

UGCC head Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in a video accompanying the release that the strike was “a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance.”

“It is horrifying to see that the children who came to save their lives in the artificial kidney center were ruthlessly killed by Russian criminals,” the prelate said in the release. 

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack.

The bishop said that many of the children in the hospital “were on the verge of death” at the time of the strike, according to the news release, with many “undergoing surgery at the time.”

“In the name of God, with all our resolve, we condemn this crime against humanity,” the archbishop said. 

Rescue workers were still clearing the rubble, Sviatoslav said, but “we already know about dozens of dead and around a hundred injured.”

First responders were “standing in a chain and dismantling stones to save more children whose hearts are beating under the rubble,” he said.

The prelate described the strike as “not only a crime against human laws and … international rules of warfare” but also “a sin that cries for vengeance to heaven, according to Christian morality.”

“Today we cry with all the victims, we pray for all the perished, especially the innocent children,” Sviatoslav said. “We want to wrap all the wounded with our Christian love, all those who are hurting the most.”

“Lord, by your power, instill in us hope for the protection of the lives of our children and women. Merciful God, bless our long-suffering Ukrainian land with your just peace!” the archbishop said.

The Russian government, meanwhile, denied responsibility for the attack, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling media on Tuesday that the country’s military does not target civilian structures. 

Peskov alleged that the strike was instead caused by “a falling anti-missile system” used by Ukraine.

null / Credit: vectorfusionart/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).

The Republican Party’s 2024 platform has notably softened the party’s stance on marriage, pulling back from earlier language that affirmed the traditional definition of marriage and denounced the Supreme Court’s earlier rulings on the matter.

In its 2016 platform, the GOP had defended “traditional marriage and family,” which it said was “based on marriage between one man and one woman” and constituted the “foundation for a free society.”

The 2016 platform directly criticized the 2013 Supreme Court ruling on United States v. Windsor, which said that the federal government could not treat state-sanctioned same-sex “marriages” differently from traditional heterosexual marriages. 

The platform also condemned the landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriages throughout the U.S. The Obergefell ruling “robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” the party said.

The Republican Party did not release an updated platform in 2020. However, in its 2024 platform, the GOP significantly dialed back its language on marriage, remarking on it only briefly while vowing to “empower American families.”

“Republicans will promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage, the blessings of childhood, the foundational role of families, and supports working parents,” the platform says. “We will end policies that punish families.”

The GOP’s 2024 platform is largely seen as being heavily guided by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. CBS News referred to the document as “Trump-influenced,” while NPR said the platform “follows Trump’s lead.”

Trump has given conflicting answers on same-sex marriage in the past, though in 2016 he said he was “fine” with the Supreme Court’s ruling on that policy, and in 2019 one of his advisors reaffirmed his acceptance of “gay marriage.”

The GOP platform has softened in other ways since 2016. The 2024 Republican National Convention’s platform committee also moved this week to adopt new language regarding abortion, removing from the platform a “right to life” plank as well as a call for a national law protecting unborn life.

Previous versions of the document said that unborn children have a “fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed” and called for a constitutional amendment to guarantee that right. 

But this year’s platform uses much more moderate language and emphasizes the role of states in protecting life.

“We proudly stand for families and life,” the new document reads. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.”

Our Lady of Christendom is an annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga (Asturias) that takes place around the feast of St. James the Apostle (July 25), patron saint of Spain. / Credit: Our Lady of Christendom Pilgrimage

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 9, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican has prohibited the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga, a rite that customarily takes place at the conclusion of the annual Our Lady of Christendom pilgrimage in Spain.  

The organizers of the fourth edition of the pilgrimage announced the prohibition in a July 6 post on X: “At the Archdiocese of Oviedo they have informed us that they have received instructions from the Dicastery for Divine Worship stating that the Traditional Holy Mass is not to be celebrated in Covadonga.” 

The pilgrimage will take place from July 27–29 starting out from Oviedo. Our Lady of Christendom explains on its website that the pilgrimage “is organized by a group of faithful lay Catholics devoted to the celebration of the Holy Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite,” otherwise known as the Traditional Latin Mass or the Tridentine Mass.

“The aim of the pilgrimage is the sanctification of the soul through the graces requested from Our Lord, through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, offering prayers, sacrifices, and mortifications for three days. In these days of pilgrimage we especially commend our homeland and the Holy Father [to the Lord],” the website states.

The organizers note that the pilgrimage of about 60 miles “is independent of any institute, community, or religious organization.”

According to the Archdiocese of Oviedo, this devotion to the Virgin Mary at what is now the shrine in Covadonga dates back to “many years before the battle of Covadonga” in which the Christians led by King Don Pelayo defeated the invading Muslim army in the eighth century A.D. 

“Currently Covadonga receives more than a million visitors throughout the year from the five continents,” the Spanish archdiocese states on its webpage about the shrine.

‘Not a reason to be sad’

Given the prohibition of offering the TLM at the basilica at the conclusion of the pilgrimage, the organizers said in their announcement on X that this year the Mass on the third day will be celebrated in the pilgrims’ camp in the morning before completing the final leg of the pilgrimage. This Mass will be in the extraordinary form.

“This circumstance should not be a reason for sadness but should encourage us to persevere in the love and devotion that we profess for the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar within Holy Mother the Church,” they stated.

Instead of Mass, “upon arriving at Covadonga, the singing of the Te Deum will take place before the Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed and the consecration to the Blessed Virgin will take place to conclude the pilgrimage,” the organizers of Our Lady of Christendom stated.

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

Hurricane Beryl hit Texas early Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, claiming two lives and causing power outages in 2.7 million homes in Houston. / Credit: EWTN News Nightly/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2024 / 19:15 pm (CNA).

After Hurricane Beryl hit Texas early Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, claiming two lives and causing power outages in 2.7 million homes in Houston, the head of a local branch of Catholic Charities providing relief told EWTN: “We lean on our faith.”

Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane at about 4 a.m. local time on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Designated as a tropical storm on Monday afternoon, the storm that first began as a Category 5 hurricane in the Caribbean islands wreaked havoc and caused widespread flooding in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. 

Cynthia Colbert, the president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston, the region hardest hit by Beryl, spoke to EWTN News’ Montse Alvarado about local needs.  

“With faith and grit and hard work, we’re going to get back to where we were pre-hurricane,” she said on “EWTN News Nightly.”

Colbert explained that Catholic Charities is “one of the early responders” and will be providing some financial assistance, food, cleaning supplies, and more long-term support for those who need it.

“We try to meet the basic needs that people have after the initial storm has passed,” she said.

“We’ll be providing things to help people meet their basic needs,” Colbert continued. “For example, if they’ve had rain damage in their home or anything else, they might not be able to go to work. Maybe they’ve lost their car, they’ve lost all the food in their refrigerator because they don’t have power.”

Those with more long-term needs may have fewer resources or were uninsured or underinsured for the storm, Colbert explained. 

“If they have damage to their home, they’re going to need repairs. We’ll be calling on the community to help with repairs [in the] longer term,” she said. “We provide case management that helps people get back on their feet to pretty much how life was before the storm.” 

When asked about how locals in the Greater Gulf area endure the barrage of storms over the past 15 years, Colbert explained that they all pitch in. 

“I will tell you what I know about Houston in our region and our Catholic Church,” she said. “We are a resilient group. We know how to get together to help the community recover.”

“What you’ll see is Knights of Columbus, we’ll have the St. Vincent de Paul, other Catholic parishes with ministries, we’ll all pitch in and do what we can to help the community recover,” Colbert continued.

“What I know about Houston, we are resilient, we’re collaborative, we lean on our faith,” she continued. “We know that God has a plan, and he has us in the palm of his hands.”

Before it reached Houston, Hurricane Beryl devastated Grenada, where it made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on July 1. 

“In Grenada, a reported 98% of buildings — home to some 6,000 people — are damaged or destroyed,” a statement from CRS said. “Most families there collect rain from rooftops, which is a low-cost way to store drinking water. With such extreme damage to homes, drinking water is now running out.”

“People in Grenada have described the island as almost entirely homeless — and residents are in urgent need of shelter support, clean water, hygiene supplies, food, and other assistance,” the statement continued. “Especially for families who have lost their homes and assets, immediate safety from the elements is a high priority.”

To support the relief efforts, visit Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presides over a press conference on Friday, May 17, 2024, on the Vatican’s new document on Marian apparitions. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2024 / 18:07 pm (CNA).

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) announced the approval of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Pierina Gilli, an Italian visionary, in 1947 and 1966.

The apparitions took place in Montichiari and Fontanelle, Italy, located in the country’s northern province of Brescia.

In a letter approved by Pope Francis and sent to the bishop of Brescia on July 5, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández indicated that the “spiritual proposal that emerges from the experiences narrated by Pierina Gilli in relation to María Rosa Mystica does not contain theological or moral elements contrary to the doctrine of the Church.”

The letter includes excerpts from Gilli’s diaries in which the Italian visionary goes into great detail describing the apparitions and insights shared by the Blessed Virgin. Fernández shared that Gilli’s writings “reveal a humble and complete trust in Mary’s maternal action.”

Serving as a nurse and postulant for the Handmaids of Charity in Montichiari, Gilli first encountered the Blessed Virgin privately while praying in a hospital chapel in the spring of 1947. As Gilli described in her diary, the Virgin Mary appeared wearing a violet dress and white veil with an expression of sorrow and tears in her eyes. Showing her heart pierced with three swords, Our Lady asked for prayer, penance, and sacrifice.

Appearing again to Gilli on July 13, 1947, the Blessed Virgin Mary was dressed in white and instead of having three swords in her breast, she had three roses: a white one, a red one, and a yellow one that symbolized the spirits of prayer, sacrifice, and penance. 

When asked by Gilli who she was, Our Lady responded: “I am the mother of Jesus and the mother of all of you. Our Lord sends me to bring a new Marian devotion to all religious orders and institutes, male and female, and to the priests of this world.”

According to Gilli, Our Lady continued on in wishing that “the 13th of July be celebrated every year in honor of the Mystical Rose.” Gilli would later translate this term as meaning that “Mary is the master teacher of the innermost mystical life and the mother of the mystical body of Christ — the mother of the Church.”

Our Lady would appear to Gilli five more times in 1947, including a series of public apparitions in November and December of that year. At the Cathedral of Montichiari on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin told Gilli: “I wish to be known as the Mystical Rose. It is my wish that every year, on the 8th of December, at noon, the hour of grace for the world be celebrated.”

“Many divine and bodily graces will be received through this devotion. Jesus will send his overflowing mercy if good people will pray continuously for their sinful brother,” Our Lady continued. “The Lord is still protecting the good and is holding back a great punishment because of my intercession. Soon, one will recognize the greatness of this hour of grace.”

Shortly following these apparitions and investigations by the diocesan ecclesiastical authorities, Gilli secluded herself at the convent of the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Child in Brescia. It was not until years later, in 1966, that the Blessed Virgin appeared again to Gilli, in which she blessed a miraculous spring in Fontanelle, called “Fountain of Grace.”

Our Lady then asked Gilli to kiss the soil where the water sprang forth and to place a crucifix there so that “the sick and all of my children, before drawing or drinking water, may ask pardon from my divine Son with a beautiful kiss of love.”

More apparitions would follow in 1966, in which the Blessed Virgin continued to share various messages regarding prayer, penance, and devotion. According to Gilli’s diary, she would also have more private visits from the Blessed Virgin in the years to follow.

Nonetheless, the apparitions did not receive approval from the bishop of Brescia until 2019, when the Marian site was declared as the Diocesan Sanctuary of Mystical Rose, Mother of the Church by Bishop Pierantonio Tremolada, the current bishop of Brescia and recipient of the DDF’s letter.

This letter points out several of the “positive aspects” of the Our Lady’s messages and further elaborates on other points in order to “avoid misunderstandings.”

“Taking into account the other elements of judgment proposed by [Tremolada] in the cited dossier, such as the diverse and rich spiritual and pastoral fruits of this devotion,” the letter continues, “we believe that you can calmly arrive at the conclusion of your discernment, according to the already cited Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Supernatural Phenomena.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, praised the platform, saying it demonstrates that the Republican Party “remains strongly pro-life at the national level.” / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in Depth

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).

The 2024 Republican National Convention’s platform committee voted on Monday to adopt new language regarding abortion, removing a “right to life” plank and a call for a national law protecting unborn life from the party platform.

The platform is an aspirational document that is drafted and approved by party delegates during election years. It is meant to outline the party’s policy goals for the coming years.

While previous versions of the document said that unborn children have a “fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed” and called for a constitutional amendment to guarantee that right, this year’s platform uses much more moderate language and emphasizes the role of states in protecting life.

It reads: “We proudly stand for families and life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.”

The platform goes on to laud the overturn of Roe v. Wade and then express support for prenatal care, birth control, and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the states and to a vote of the people. We will oppose late-term abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF,” the new document reads.  

The draft, which according to the Washington Post was approved in an 84-18 vote, was written by former President Donald Trump’s campaign and adopted at his urging. 

The Trump campaign celebrated the platform’s passage in a Monday statement in which they said it “articulates his [Trump’s] vision to Make America Great Again in a way that is concise and digestible for every voter.”

Since April, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee has consistently signaled his desire to keep abortion exclusively a state issue. During a televised debate last month with President Joe Biden, he asserted that the 2021 Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe v. Wade means that abortion is now up to the states.

Leading pro-life Republicans have echoed this sentiment, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio saying in a Sunday CNN interview that “our platform has to reflect our nominee and our nominee’s position actually happens to be one grounded in reality … His position on this has been the reality that you can’t pass a federal law [protecting unborn life] even if we wanted to.”

The reaction from the pro-life community, meanwhile, was mixed.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, praised the platform, saying it demonstrates that the Republican Party “remains strongly pro-life at the national level.”

Kristi Hamrick, a representative for Students for Life Action, told CNA that while “not perfect” the platform represents “two very big wins” for the pro-life movement: acknowledging that the 14th Amendment protects all life, including unborn life, and condemning late-term abortion.

Hamrick said that she has been working with the Trump campaign and delegates to the Republican National Convention to stress the importance of the Republican Party prioritizing the protection of unborn life.

Even with a reduced legislative focus, Hamrick said there is a lot of important work a future Trump administration could do for the pro-life movement including reversing “a lot of weaponized federal policy” that she said is “prejudiced in favor of abortion.”

“If we detangled and cut out the cancer of abortion and abortion-related programming from our federal budgets, we can have a healthier budget and a life-affirming budget.” If Republicans were to achieve those wins under a Trump administration, Hamrick said it would constitute “a very vibrant and vigorous term.”

Hundreds of people joined as the Eucharist left the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, headed for St. Peter Parish, in St. Charles, Missouri. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

St. Louis, Mo., Jul 8, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Thousands of people joined over the weekend for Eucharistic processions and other events put on as part of the National Eucharistic Revival in St. Louis, a city known as the “Rome of the West” for its many beautiful churches and historically vibrant Catholic presence.

The St. Junípero Serra Route, the longest of the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes, began in San Francisco in May and arrived in the St. Louis area July 5 to enthusiastic crowds. The pilgrimage has now proceeded on through Illinois and will culminate, along with the other three routes, with an arrival in Indianapolis on July 16 in time for the National Eucharistic Congress. 

Here’s a look at Jesus’ progress through the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Friday

Events in the St. Louis area began on Friday in St. Charles, a small Missouri River town that was once the capital of the state. It also was the home of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a saint who founded a convent and school there in the early 19th century.

After a rosary at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, the procession stopped at St. Rose’s shrine less than a mile away and then proceeded to St. Peter Parish. The procession was unaffected by moderate flooding taking place nearby at the Missouri River, which had forced the cancellation of a major Independence Day celebration that was also scheduled to take place July 5. 

Saturday

On Saturday, the Perpetual Pilgrims — young people committed to walking the entire route with Jesus — visited the Missionaries of Charity at their St. Louis home, which is close to St. Josephine Bakhita, a historically Black parish.

The pilgrims were welcomed by the people of St. Josephine’s for lunch, and then Auxiliary Bishop Mark Rivituso blessed a large number of “Blessing Boxes” containing donations, collected by the archdiocese, for refugee families in St. Louis. The pilgrims then joined the Missionaries of Charity for adoration before the Eucharist was processed to St. Josephine’s for continued adoration. 

The pilgrims then proceeded to an apartment complex where a large number of Latin American and African refugees live. The pilgrims helped the families carry their donated boxes to their apartments.

Sunday

Sunday’s festivities began at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, with Sunday Mass celebrated by Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski. Following the Mass, hundreds of people gathered to accompany the Eucharistic procession on a roughly five-mile trek to St. Stephen Protomartyr Church. 

The route took the pilgrims through numerous historic neighborhoods in St. Louis as well as past the Missouri Botanical Garden and through Tower Grove Park. Despite temperatures approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit, numerous families with small children made the journey. A large cadre of police facilitated the procession’s progress the entire way. 

The participants took part in Eucharistic adoration upon arrival at St. Stephen.

Pro-lifers were present at the Arkansas capitol on July 5, 2024, when a pro-abortion group submitted its petitions for a ballot measure that proposes an amendment that would enshrine abortion as a right in the state constitution for the first half of a pregnancy. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Family Council in Arkansas

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

Pro-life advocates are calling a proposed Arkansas abortion measure “extreme,” saying it would nullify parental consent laws and other safeguards if passed, giving abortionists “free rein” into the second trimester of pregnancy.

The ballot measure proposes an amendment that would enshrine abortion as a right in the state constitution for the first half of a pregnancy. A pro-abortion group submitted the required number of signatures on Friday, making it likely that Arkansians will be voting on the measure this November.

Arkansans for Limited Government, the group that organized the ballot measure, announced in a July 5 Facebook post that it obtained more than 100,000 signatures from registered voters in 75 different counties and submitted the measure to the state for verification. 

The Arkansas Legislature requires about 90,700 signatures from 50 counties by the July 5 deadline in order to place a measure on the ballot. 

The proposed “Arkansas Abortion Amendment” would allow abortions up to 18 weeks — about four-and-a-half months — after fertilization and in a variety of other cases after that mark, including when the unborn child is diagnosed with a “fatal fetal anomaly” or “to protect a pregnant female from a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury.” 

The amendment also would allow abortion in cases of rape or incest. 

Arkansas currently allows abortion only if a mother’s life is at risk. The state health department recently reported that there were no abortions in Arkansas in 2023. The pro-life law firm Americans United for Life, based in Washington, D.C., has listed Arkansas as “the most pro-life state in America” for the past four years. 

The proposed abortion amendment would declare “null and void” any laws that are in conflict with it, including parental consent and informed consent requirements.  

Critics of the amendment describe it as “extreme” and “unsafe” because it forbids the government from restricting abortion in any way well into the second trimester.

The Arkansas-based pro-life group Family Council called the amendment “more extreme than Roe v. Wade” in a Friday press release, noting that it “would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy” if passed.

A report by Americans United for Life criticized the amendment for subjecting unborn children to “painful abortion procedures,” eliminating safeguards for women and minors, and “giv[ing] abortionists free rein to operate without any health and safety restrictions.”

The head of Arkansas Right to Life, a pro-life organization fighting the ballot measure, said that Arkansas’ successful pro-life movement makes it a pro-abortion “target.” 

“With the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, Arkansas Right to Life knew that this fight would come to the doorstep of each of the 50 states, and Arkansas would be no exception,” Arkansas Right to Life executive director Rose Mimms said in a July 5 statement. 

“We knew we would be a target as we are the No. 1 pro-life state in the nation,” she said.

“If the measure ultimately makes it on the November ballot, a ‘no’ vote will protect pregnant women and girls from unsafe, unlicensed abortion procedures that will take the life of their unborn son or daughter and possibly injure or kill them in the process,” Mimms added.

The group Arkansans for Limited Government hired more than 150 petition canvassers, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the campaign, according to Family Council.

Measures to make abortion a constitutionally-protected right are on the ballot in Colorado, Maryland, Florida, South Dakota, and Nevada, while groups have submitted signatures and are awaiting approval for similar measures in Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, and Nebraska. 

The German Parliament building in Berlin. / Credit: canadastock/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jul 8, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Leading German pro-life advocates are criticizing a new law passed by Germany’s federal Parliament on Friday to establish 100-meter “buffer zones” around abortion facilities, calling it an attack on democracy and an attempt to silence Christians and other pro-lifers.

The proposed Pregnancy Conflict Act (Schwangerschaftskonfliktgesetz) claims to protect pregnant women from what supporters call “sidewalk harassment” by pro-life activists near counseling centers and facilities that perform abortions.

However, the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom has repeatedly warned of legislation to establish German censorship zones.

‘A black day for democracy’

Cornelia Kaminski, federal chairwoman of Action Right to Life for All, issued a scathing rebuke of the law on July 5, calling it “a frontal attack on the foundations of our democracy.”

She warned that praying for women in need within a 100-meter (328-foot) radius of abortion facilities will now be punishable by a fine of 5,000 euros (about $5,400).

In a statement released Friday, Kaminski declared the day “a black day for democracy” and criticized the government’s approach to legislation.

She said the law would unconstitutionally restrict a select group of people’s rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and religion.

The pro-life leader also highlighted the lack of evidence supporting the need for such a law. “Not a single case is on record where an affected woman actually filed a complaint because of this,” Kaminski stated.

In a similar vein, representatives of the German Doctors for Life called the law “a massive encroachment on the rights to freedom of religion, opinion, and assembly, which must be granted to pro-lifers just as much as to environmental and climate protectors.”

The medical doctors Kai Witzel and Julia Kim published a statement on July 5 arguing that courts have consistently found no legal basis for claims of harassment by pro-life activists.

“The claim that people peacefully advocating for the right to life are preventing medical staff in abortion facilities from practicing their profession is far-fetched.”

Alexandra Linder, chair of the Federal Association for the Right to Life, told Catholic newspaper Tagespost the parliamentary debate included “untruths and shock images” about pro-lifers allegedly harassing women. She argued the real motivation behind the law is to establish abortion as “normal health care.”

Previous legal challenges

The new restrictions follow local attempts in German cities.

In Frankfurt this March, pro-life advocates reported being harassed and threatened by abortion activists while praying about 100 feet from an International Planned Parenthood Federation facility. Police were criticized for their slow response and alleged failure to intervene.

In 2019, the city of Pforzheim banned prayer vigils near an abortion center, but that prohibition was overturned in August 2022.

The court ruled that authorities could restrict assemblies only if public safety was endangered.

Following the sentence, Felix Böllmann, senior counsel for ADF International, said at the time: “The silencing of pro-life expression, including prayer, is a recurring issue across Europe. When the government starts prohibiting silent prayer in certain places, we enter the business of policing thought crimes — a frightening proposition for all. It is imperative that we diligently uphold our fundamental freedoms in public spaces, standing against attempts to undermine peaceful assembly and the expression of one’s convictions.”

null / Credit: Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Complying with a 2021 directive from President Joe Biden, the U.S. State Department has released its third annual whole of government “progress report” on advancing what it calls the “human rights” of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons around the world.

The U.S. Department of State-led initiative details how various federal agencies are participating in the sweeping American foreign policy effort, which now includes allowing refugees and asylum seekers to select their gender on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) forms “without the need to provide supporting documentation or to match the gender listed on their identity document.”

The State Department report says it considers this and dozens of other LGBTQI+ “human rights” initiatives detailed in the report, including U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding of a “Transformation Salon” in India “to enhance the career and entrepreneurial opportunities for the transgender community” in that country, activities that “advance our national security.”

According to the latest report, U.S. government agencies are pouring tens of millions of dollars into dozens of projects and grants to organizations worldwide that support gender ideology, transgenderism, and “combat so called ‘conversion therapy’ practices,” among other specified LGBTQI+ “human rights” priorities.

“Promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons is a U.S. foreign policy priority,” read the State Department statement that accompanied the report.

The report opens a window into how the U.S. government, under the Biden administration, is specifically leveraging foreign aid programs and its influence with international financial institutions and the United Nations to pressure countries into embracing and disseminating its favored LGBTQI+ policies.

The Department of State alone, the report notes, over the last five years has authorized more than $3.2 million in small grants to “116 LGBTQI+ organizations in 73 countries.” The report indicates that USAID, meanwhile, has dedicated “more than $7 million to support activities at USAID missions that integrate LGBTQI+ equities” and “leveraged more than $11 million from private philanthropy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”

As part of the report the Peace Corps, for its part, pointed to its celebration of “Pride events at headquarters and posts” and commitment to “fostering opportunities among the LGBTQI+ community to serve abroad.”

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), meanwhile, touted that in fiscal year 2023 it served 799,000 “men who have sex with men (MSM)” and “more than 85,000 transgender persons in more than 50 countries.”

Related efforts cited in the report include new U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and agreement rules that “include protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression.” The State Department also indicated it is developing similar rules related to department-funded foreign assistance.

Advancing LGBTQI+ ‘human rights’ includes banning ‘conversion therapy’

Among the efforts highlighted in the report is the administration’s commitment to “prevent conversion therapy practices (CTP) globally.”

Although the report does not define the term, CTP is understood as any therapy directed toward changing “an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” including “behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

The report indicates that the U.S. State Department, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and USAID have shared “current science-based knowledge with medical professionals and public officials regarding the harms of CTP.”

However, as previously reported by the National Catholic Register and CNA, the scientific basis for the sweeping attacks against CTP is sharply disputed. Referencing the work of Father Paul Sulllins, for example, Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president of the Ruth Institute, contends that “the claim that sexual orientation change therapy is always harmful is not supported by the available evidence.”