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PAGE 7—October 2,1980
Pope Defends Attack On Italy’s Abortion Law
BY JERRY FILTEAU
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican and Pope John
Paul II defended papal pronouncements against Italy’s
abortion law amid denunciations, protests and scattered
violent incidents in Italy.
“This issue is first and foremost an issue of moral
responsibility,” the pope said before a crowd of about
40,000 gathered in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 21 for the
Sunday noon Angelus.
In response to Radical Party complaints of Vatican
interference in Italian autonomy, the papal nuncio to
Italy, Archbishop Romo Carboni, sent a telegram to the
Radical Party saying its attacks were an offense against
“the right to religious liberty.”
The statements of papal interference in Italian affairs
stemmed mainly from a sharp attack by the pope on
abortion during his visit to Siena, Italy, Sept. 14. On that
occasion he called it “a patent contradiction” to defend
human rights and also back abortion.
Two weeks earlier in Aquila, Italy, he said, “You must
not suppress life in the mother’s womb.”
Throughout Italy his remarks were taken as strong
support for two Movement for Life referendum signature
campaigns against abortion which needed 500,000
signatures each by the end of September.
As the closing date of the signature campaign
approached, the level of church involvement in the
campaign and secular party attacks on the church
escalated dramatically. Among incidents that heightened
the tension were:
-- On Sept. 19, feast of St. Januarius, patron of Naples,
Cardinal Corrado Ursi of Naples told about 6,000 people
gathered in the cathedral to sign the referendum petitions
at one of three tables around the church.
-- On Sept. 20 Radical Party leaders were arrested by
Italian police when they tried to demonstrate without a
permit at St. Peter’s Square to protest papal involvement
in the issue.
-- On Sept. 21, other Radical leaders were detained in
front of the Naples cathedral during a similar illegal
demonstration against Cardinal Ursi. Released after a few
minutes, they continued the demonstration about 50
yards from the cathedral.
- In Florence, national headquarters of the Movement
for Life, a 20-year-old university student was attacked and
beaten by five youths Sept. 21 as he left a church where
he was helping conduct the signature campaign.
Bystanders stepped in and saved him as he was being
strangled.
- Also in Florence on Sept. 21, a young female student
was hospitalized after a cigarette lighter tossed from a
crowd of anti-referendum demonstrators hit her in the eye
while she was trying to sign the referendum.
Although the Movement for Life is
non-denominational, most of its leaders are also leaders in
Catholic organizations and it has received strong backing
from the Italian church. Many churches have hosted
sign-up tables for the referendum at Sunday Masses.
In his telegram defending Pope John Paul’s statements
on abortion, Archbishop Carboni said:
“The Supreme Pontiff’s teaching in meetings and
ceremonies of a religious nature during visits to Italian
cities is done in fulfillment of his duty as universal pastor
of the Catholic Church, which has the mission of
preaching its doctrine to believers and all men who are
disposed to listen to it.”
The telegram said that it would be an attack on
religious freedom to try to deny him that right.
“To consider this a political message is to alter the
religious and moral meaning of such teaching,” added the
telegram.
In his Sunday Angelus talk the pope recalled that he
had spoken the week before at Siena “about the very
important social problem of responsibility for life.”
“I did so because we can never lose awareness that this
issue is first and foremost an issue of moral
responsibility,” he commented. “It is ah issue for each
and every conscience. For the church this issue raises
demands of a moral and pastoral nature.”
The church, the pope added, “does not mean to judge
anyone, but it cannot but give witness to the truth. The
church knows that every attack on the life of the child in
its mother’s womb is a great overturning of conscience. It
is a great disgrace. It is a great sorrow. The church, then,
wants above all to help. It wants to serve.”
View Shroud Fake Dismissed
An American artist’s claim that the Shroud of Turin is
a medieval fraud has been dismissed by Vatican shroud
specialist, Msgr. Giullo Ricci, as “oddly curious, unreliable
and far-fetched.”
Chicago microscopist Walter C. McCrone said the
shroud, believed by some Christians to be the burial sheet
of Jesus Christ, showed traces of an artist’s pigment.
According to reports in the London Catholic Herald
and The Times of London, McCrone told a confidential
meeting of the British Society for the Turin Shroud that
the shroud was a fake.
He added, however, that he could not prove the shroud
was not authentic. An international team of scientists
made tests on the shroud in 1978 during one of its rare
showings to the public in Turin, Italy. Its report is
expected to be published later this year.
Father Francis Filas, a Chicago theologian and shroud
specialist, said at the time of the 1978 viewing that
space-age technology shows that no sign of brush marks
can be found in photographs of the cloth, demonstrating
that it was not the work of an artist with fraud on his
mind.
McCrone estimated the shroud dated from 1356.
“It is entirely possible that an artist could have done it
POLAND VISIT - Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski,
left, primate of Poland, embraces Cardinal Joseph
Hoffner of Cologne, West Germany, near the end
of the German cardinal’s five-day visit to Poland.
“True peace can only exist when two nations
meet and reach mutual understanding, accepting
differences,” Cardinal Hoffner said in Warsaw.
(NC Photo from KNA)
much earlier than that, but it was very fashionable t<
make frauds at that time.
“I believe it is a fake, but I cannot prove it. There is.
great deal of artist’s pigment on the shroud. A majo
portion of the image is in artist’s pigment. How he did it,
cannot say,” McCrone said.
McCrone is reported to have seen microscopicall]
visible amounts of red oxide clinging to many of thi
yellow fibers of the cloth. This, he said, was similar t<
such iron-rich earth pigments as red ochre.
McCrone said a carbon-14 testing probably would giv«
a date around 1356 but Msgr. Ricci said earlier this yea
that Vatican officials fear the proposed test would destroj
part of the shroud.
Other studies of the shroud indicated that pollei
samples taken from the sheet showed that it originated ii
Palestine about 2,000 years ago and came to Europe vij
Constantinople.
The shroud is venerated as the original linen buria
cloth in which the body of Jesus was wrapped after th»
crucifixion. In a photographic negative its marking!
appear as the image of a crucified man.
The shroud, which was seen by about 3.3 millior
pilgrims in 1978, is kept in a silver box in Turin. (NC)
Visit Stirs Pros, Cons
BY ROBERT NOWELL
LONDON (NC) - The announcement of a visit by Pope
John Paul II to great Britain has generally received a warm
welcome. But misgivings are also felt by people for whom
the Reformation controversies remain live issues.
The pope is expected to visit Great Britain in the
summer of 1982.
News of the visit was welcomed by the Rev. Philip
Morgan, general secretary of the British Council of
Churches (BCC).
“ Whatever strengthens and comforts any of us within
the body of Christ is a strength and joy to us all,” he said.
“We shall all be hoping and praying in the BCC that
this visit can bring to all British Christians both
encouragement and a new commitment to the worldwide
unity of all Christ’s people,” said Mr. Morgan.
Opposition to a papal visit, however, has also formed
Prior to the announcement of the visit in August, the
Protestant Reformation Society joined with other small
Protestant bodies to publish a pamphlet, “10 Reasons
Why the Pope Should Not Be Invited tc Make a State
Visit to Britain.”
The group’s objections include the doctrine of papal
infallibility, the presence of “many things both
superstitious and incredible” in Catholic doctrine, past
persecution of Protestants by Catholics, refusal to
excommunicate members of the Irish Republican Army
who use violence, and Catholic stands on artificial
contraception and abortion.
Uneasiness is also found among more mainstream
groups. Church Society, which represents the conservative
Evangelical wing of the Church of England (Anglican),
expressed concern that the visit might include a papal
Mass in an Anglican church.
Church Society is worried that the emotional euphoria
which such a visit could generate might swamp awareness
of the sharp doctrinal differences which it sees as still
outstanding between Anglicans and Catholics on such
issues as justification, transubstantiation and papal
infallibility.
“We’re not against union. We’re aginst union on the
wrong terms,” said a society spokesman.
HONORED IN GLASS - When James Smejkal
donated money for a window for the new St.
Mary Church in Vemonia, Ore., the parishioners
had little trouble deciding what to do with the
window. The window, designed by a parishioner,
honors Smejkal’s parents, Louise and Antone,
BY STEPHENIE OVERMAN
WASHINGTON (NC) - The bishops’ pastoral letter on
health care, including controversial topics such as national
health insurance and union organizing in hospitals, is still
open for discussion.
The bishops’ administrative board met Sept. 16-18 and
decided to send the pastoral, “Health and the Ministry of
Healing,” on to the November general meeting for further
discussion, but not for a vote.
The board also decided that “the conference should
actively pursue a dialogue with the Catholic Health
Association,” according to Russell Shaw, U.S. Catholic
Conference (USCC) public affairs director. Revisions
could then be made after the November meeting.
USCC officials and health care administrators have
disagreed on the issues of national health insurance and
organizing and on the approach to the pastoral itself.
They may disagree, Msgr. Francis Lally said, but he
downplayed reports that the two groups are “clashing” as
a National Catholic Reporter story said in the Sept. 12
issue.
Msgr. Lally, USCC social development and world peace
secretary, called that an exaggeration. “There’s some
difference of emphasis but I don’t see any confrontation.”
he said.
Msgr. Lally said the bishops are taking a broad
approach to the subject of healing, including “parish,
people, the whole business,” while the health care
administrators would have preferred an institutional point
of view.
who had labored long and hard for the new
church. Louise is depicted with one of her quilts
and Antone is shown making cedar shakes for the
roof of the church which appears at the top. (NC
Photo by Jim Signor)
John Curley, president of CHA, which represents
Catholic hospitals and nursing homes, said, “The character
of the pastoral letter is different than when we asked for a
pastoral. The bishops had issued a pastoral on education,
“To Teach As Jesus Did,” on education - and we had that
on the back of our minds.
“They’re not the same, but that doesn’t make it better
or worse,” he said of the bishops’ broader approach on
the health pastoral.
Curley also said that the two organizations “are
working together.”
“We’ve been involved with the USCC on the pastoral
and have offered a number of suggestions. We expressed a
desire to dialogue and I’m delighted” with the
administrative board’s recommendation to continue talks.
“I think we can bring expertise that will strengthen the
document,” Curley said.
He also said, “we are re-examining our thinking” on
national health insurance and that in some earlier drafts
“we were a bit uncomfortable” with treatment of
Catholic hospital labor relations “because of the
> omplexity of the issue.”
Msgr. Lally said the bishops have long supported a
national health insurance program and. “I wouldn't
expect the bishops to change their position on health
insurance.” Curley also said he foresees no basic change in
the bishops’ long-standing support.
Still, Curley said, “differences can be healthy. We
would hope whatever kind of document comes out, we
will have had the chance to discuss it.’
Camp David?
Will Peace And Prosperity Meet In Egypt After
Continue Talks On Health Pastoral
BY CAROLE CRAIG
CAIRO, Egypt (NC) - Since President Anwar Sadat’s
trip to Jerusalem in November 1977 many nations have
been waiting for Egypt and Israel to form a lasting
relationship within the warm embrace of the Camp David
accords.
But even before the current rocky period in
Egyptian-Israeli relations, Egyptians did not have high
hopes for a cozy relationship.
Sadat’s trip to Israel came after massive riots over the
price of food which had seriously threatened his rule. The
decision to negotiate peace directly with Israel was taken
without national debate and sold to an, at best, apathetic
population as the necessary pre-requisite for economic
reconstriction.
The formula was: peace equals prosperity. Egypt’s
continual assertion that “nothing can stop the peace
process” was as much a statement of internal policy as it
was of international diplomacy.
In the wave of media-created euphoria, the unresolved
issues of Palestinian statehood and the status of Jerusalem
were left in the shadows.
With the recent Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem,
controlled by Jordan prior to the 1967 war, these issues
moved into the light.
Now, while hoping that the United States and Western
Europe can budge Israel, Sadat has promised to devote
most of his time to the prosperity end of his peace equals
prosperity formula. He has let go of the peace-based
cornucopia from which he hopes to produce his econorflic
miracle.
Pan-Arab nationalism is being traded for a policy,
proclaimed from signs all over Cairo, of “Egypt first.”
The vast majority of Egyptians are experiencing a
decrease in their standard of living. Tremendous
population pressures, bad industrial management and a
war machine which demanded 35 percent of the Gross
National Product combined to put the per capita income
on a par with those of Bangledesh and Haiti.
Despite 30 years of propaganda associating Israel with
the foreign menace, most Egyptians would give the
government-to-government peace process a chance for the
sake of foreign financed economic recovery. Egypt is
heavily dependent on U.S. economic and military aid.
But while the majority have been sympathetic to the
peace process, leftists, Moslem fundamentalist groups and
intellectuals are less than happy.
Critics say that in removing Egypt from the field of
battle, any Arab military action against Israel is made
impossible. For them the slogan “Egypt first” means
trading Palestinian rights and Jerusalem for “two-thirds of
the Sinai.”
The strongest opposition to the peace treaty with Israel
comes from the Moslem Brotherhood, a fundamentalist
religious group which advocates government according to
the practices and principles of the early history of Islam.
Although the brotherhood opposes the left, represented
primarily by the National Unionist Progressive Party, the
two agree that the sacrifice of the Palestinian cause to
Egyptian ambition is wrong and that the economic
miracle for which Egypt’s birthright was sold has not been
forthcoming.
“What we have is not peace, but surrender,” said a
professor of modern Egyptian history. As most
government critics, he prefers not to be named.
“The treaty was not good for Egypt. It is like
something you have to do to survive. It is like having to
walk in the sewer to cross the street,” he added.
The government, however, often claims that the other
side of the street has been reached. Announcements of
new cities, new industries, new homes, better
transportation and more food crowd each other on the
pages of local newspapers. >
But the government also admits to a problem: The rich
are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer and
more restive.
A hundred years ago the Nile Valley and the Delta
supported a population of about 4.5 million people. The
population now is about 42 million and growing at the
rate of 1 million every 10 months.
Today, Egypt not only imports many basic items, but
subsidizes their sale to consumers to make them
affordable. Items such as cooking oil, soap, rice, bread and
butane gas sell at about one-fifth of their real price.
The subsidies cost the government about $3 billion a
year, money which comes in part from foreign loans and
aid.
“Without charity, Egypt would starve,” said a
European ambassador who has been in Egypt a number of
years.
Before the Arab boycott of Egypt over the peace
treaty, oil producing Arab states, particularly Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait, contributed about $2 billion a year to
the Egyptian economy.
However, competition between Egypt and Saudi
Arabia for leadership in the Arab world still exists. Egypt
claims that her long history, her development as a center
of Arab films, press broadcasting and arts gives her
preemenience. It was galling to have to go, cap in hand, to
what Sadat often refers to as a collection of “desert
sheikdoms.”
The jealousy over leadership rather than an absolute
refusal to negotiate with Israel is often given by Egyptians
as the reason the Saudis joined the boycott of Egypt.
There is speculation that Saudi Arabia is making moves to
entice a duly repentent Egypt to pick up its already-won
share of the Sinai and march back to the Arab camp.
No matter how Sadat chooses to solve the current
impasse Over Palestinian rights and the status of
Jerusalem, it is evident from a look at long term economic
planning that he does not plan to end his reliance on the
United States.
Everyone from taxi drivers to economics professors
anchor their beliefs in the new prosperity to massive
American aid, which in turn they understand to be firmly
linked to Egypt’s cooperation in the American-sponsored
peace process.
Sadat’s ambitious five-year plan to rescue the economy
calls for $4.5 billion in foreign aid, the largest share of it
from the United States.
The peace process has brought some economic benefits
to Egypt. It has regained the Sinai oil fields, reopened the
Suez Canal and made the country safe for tourism.
But a majority of the people say their life is getting
harder and they question whether any program can solve
overnight Egypt’s overwhelming problems.
The food subsidy program, on which a majority of the
population relies, is an attempt to turn back the tide of
rising world prices in a country heavily dependent, on
imports. Many necessities are not subsidized and subject to
an annual inflation rate of 40 percent. Most of the
subsidized items are found more often on the black
market than on the shelves of government cooperatives.
Sadat promised peace as a means to prosperity. If
prosperity is not coming, the peace process will be called
into question. Believing that American aid means riches
around the corner, Egypt’s poor are willing at present to
wait a little longer. But no one can say for how long.
Dependence on the United States considerably cuts
Sadat’s ability to maneuver with Israel. He cannot do
anything which would signal a break with the United
States, and the U.S. government does not want to do
anything which would signal a break with Israel.
Critics of Sadat say that by replacing national debate
on the peace process with a promise of Kentucky Fried
Chicken in every p6t7h“mayTiavetlIfbwn away a genuine
sentiment for peace which could have been strengthened.
Critics add that he raised expectations beyond what
the treaty can deliver and any eventual bitterness would
also be turned against Israel.
But a sentiment for peace still exists.
A taxi driver complaining about Israel’s annexation of
East Jerusalem suddenly stopped and said: “But of course
we don’t want war. We want peace. Our God’s name
means peace. We don’t want to see any more people
without arms, without legs, without eyes.”
Will this feeling survive the current 1 rash of
disappointments and unfulfilled promises?