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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Vatican says any deliberate
EMBRYO DESTRUCTION UNACCEPTABLE
» • *'
Vatican City (CNS)
T he deliberate destruction of a human embryo—
no matter how or why it was created—is mor
ally unacceptable, even if the aim is to help others,
the Vatican said. When Pope John Paul II met U.S.
President George W. Bush July 23 and condemned
“the creation for research purposes of human emb
ryos destined to destruction,” he was not opening
the possibility of an ethical use and destruction of
embryos created for other purposes, said Joaquin
Navarro-Vails, Vatican spokesman. Navarro-Vails
said his July 25 statement was meant to counteract
“a spin” unnamed White House officials apparently
were trying to put on the pope’s words. Bush adm
inistration officials were cited as saying the pope’s
words, while clearly referring to embryos created for
research, might not cover other embryos, such as
those created for in vitro fertilization but not trans
ferred to a woman’s womb.
Bishop Myers appointed to head
Archdiocese of Newark, NJ
Washington (CNS)
P ope John Paul II has named Bishop John J.
Myers of Peoria, IL, as the new archbishop of
Newark, N.J. The appointment was announced in
Washington July 24 by Archbishop Gabriel
Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The
announcement came two days before the new arch
bishop’s 60th birthday. Archbishop Myers succeeds
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who was arch
bishop of Newark from 1986 until he was named to
head the Washington Archdiocese in November
2000. Archbishop Myers, ordained a priest for
Peoria in 1966, has headed the Peoria Diocese since
January 23, 1990.
Archbishop defies conditions for
AVOIDING EXCOMMUNICATION
Washington (CNS)
A smiling Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo said he
will not comply with Vatican conditions to
avoid excommunication because of his May mar
riage. At a news conference less than a month before
the Vatican deadline for excommunication, the 71-
year-old archbishop said he plans to continue living
with his 43-year-old wife and to remain affiliated
with the movement of the Reverend Sun Myung
Moon. The Zambian archbishop, former head of the
Lusaka Archdiocese and a former Vatican official,
said he still had hopes of meeting directly with Pope
Headline Hopscotch
Thursday, August 2, 2001
John Paul II to resolve the situation before the
August 20 Vatican deadline. “I want to remain with
in the Catholic Church and be accepted as a married
archbishop,” he said with his wife, Maria Sung, sit
ting at his side. The July 25 news conference was
organized by the American Clergy Leadership
Conference, part of Reverend Moon’s movement.
Appeals court upholds Virginia
‘moment of silence’ law
Richmond, VA (CNS)
I n a case now likely to head to the U.S. Supreme
Court, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals up
held a Virginia law mandating a daily “moment of
silence” in the state’s public schools. The Richmond-
based federal appeals court said the law, passed in
2000 and implemented throughout Virginia during
the current school year, was not made uncon
stitutional by the inclusion of the word “pray.” Under
the law, each of the state’s 1 million public school
students is required to set aside one minute each
morning to “meditate, pray or engage in other silent
activity.” Writing for the 2-to-l majority, Judge Paul •
V. Niemeyer said the requirement was “at most a
minor and nonintrusive accommodation of religion.”
Priest’s testimony leads to man’s
RELEASE AFTER YEARS IN JAIL
New York (CNS)
I n a case that raised questions about what constitut
ed a sacramental confession, a man imprisoned for
murder 13 years ago was freed July 24 after a priest
testified that another man had confessed to the crime
years ago. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin released
Jose Morales without bail, saying that if Jesuit
Father Joseph Towle had testified in a trial, “it is dif
ficult to imagine that any reasonable jury could find
Morales guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Morales, 31, was found guilty in 1988 of stabbing to
death Jose Antonio Rivera in New York the year
before. But Father Towle testified before Chin July
16 that Jesus Fomes told him in 1988 that he, not
Morales, committed the crime. Fomes himself was
killed in 1997.
Vatican ratifies U.N. treaty
BANNING NUCLEAR TESTING
United Nations (CNS)
T he Vatican ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty July 18. Archbishop Renato R.
Martino, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, pre
sented a ratifying document signed by Pope John
Paul II to Palitha T. B. Kohona, chief of the treaty
section at the U.N. Secretariat in New York. Go
vernments ratifying the treaty pledge that they will
“refrain from causing, encouraging or in any way
participating in the carrying out of any nuclear
weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explo
sion.” Acknowledging the Vatican role as a moral
example in such actions, Kohona said he hoped its
decision would encourage more governments to rati
fy the treaty.
Pope asks g-8 leaders to promote
PEACE, ALLEVIATE POVERTY
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II asked leaders of the world’s
richest countries to promote solidarity and find
concrete ways to promote peace and end poverty. A
letter from the pope, accompanied by a note from
the Vatican secretary of state, was published by the
Vatican July 20 as the Group of Eight summit ope
ned in Genoa. The letter was sent to the summit
host, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
was asked to share it with the leaders of the United
States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany,
Japan and Russia. Pope John Paul told the leaders,
“I hope that during these intense working days no
person or nation is excluded from your concern.”
Franciscans head to federal prison
FOR PART IN SOA PROTEST
Dubuque, Iowa (CNS)
A ccompanied by a caravan of sympathizers and
news media, two Franciscan sisters from Du
buque left Mount Saint Francis Convent the morn
ing of July 17 and headed for the Federal Correc
tional Institution at Pekin, IL. Sister Dorothy Marie
Hennessey, 88, and Sister Gwen Hennessey, 68, who
are siblings, surrendered to prison authorities later
that day to begin serving six-month sentences for
their part in protesting the Army’s School of the
Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, last November.
They were among 26 people who received sentences
ranging from two years’ probation to a year in
prison for their actions at the school.
Pope scheduled to visit Armenia,
Kazakstan in September
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II will visit the former Soviet
Republics of Armenia and Kazakstan from
September 22-27, the Vatican said. As with his June
trip to Ukraine, the September visit will include
important ecumenical moments and ceremonies pay
ing homage to the minority Catholic communities
that survived despite Soviet repression in the two
ex-republics. The Vatican press office July 18 con
firmed the dates of the trip.
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