Pope Benedict XVI confirmed today that he will travel to Cuba and Mexico next year.

“Supported by divine Providence, I have the intention to make an apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba before Easter,” he said at the end of his homily during a special Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the independence of Latin American countries.

According to reports in South American news outlets, the visit will occur March 23-29.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the trip would coincide with the 400th anniversary of the image of the Virgin of Charity, the patroness of Cuba.

Lombardi had also warned that the pope would not travel to Mexico City as the city’s high altitude made it an “inadvisable” destination for the 84-year-old pope.

Benedict said he hoped his trip would contribute to the construction of a society “rooted in the development of the common good, the triumph of love and the spread of justice.”

After a historic visit by the late Pope John Paul II in 1998, relations between the Vatican and Cuba’s communist regime have improved in recent years. This year church officials helped secure the release of 115 political prisoners who left Cuba to go into exile in Spain.

The Vatican ambassador to Cuba, Monsignor Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a key figure in Vatican dialogue with the Castro regime, was promoted last May to the No. 2 position in the Vatican’s Secretariate of State.

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As Egypt approaches the anniversary of the protest movement that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak, the country still finds itself torn by sectarian violence.

On Oct. 9, a demonstration in Cairo protesting an attack against a Coptic church in the Aswan province last week erupted into the worst violence since Mubarak’s ouster in February. Between 17 and 24 people were killed and between 180 and 200 people were wounded.

Coptic Christians, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million people, blamed the church attack on Muslim radicals.

According to media reports, Egyptian troops, which accused the Cairo protestors of shooting at them, shot rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd of thousands. Demonstrators denied the charges and said the protest was a peaceful one, though perhaps others not associated with them had fired at the soldiers.

Addressing the nation on state television Monday (Oct. 10), Egyptian prime minister Essam Sharaf said the clashes between army forces and Coptic Christian protesters had brought the country back to the kind of violence seen at the onset of the revolution. “Instead of going forward, we found ourselves scrambling for security,” said Sharaf.

Despite scenes of unity during the revolution, when Muslims joined Christians in protests against continuing sectarian violence and Christians were seen protecting Muslims during their prayers at Tahrir Square, attacks against Christian targets have continued.

Prior to the recent attack, some 24 people had been killed, 200 injured, and three churches attacked during the first five months of the post-Mubarak regime.

Christians say they fear growing control by conservative Islamic groups. The second article of the Egyptian constitution declares Shari’a, or Islamic religious law, as the law of Egypt, leaving Christians fearful of their future place in the country if that provision is enforced.

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Pope Benedict XVI’s recent words of praise for Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant reformation, has set abuzz speculation on the possible “rehabilitation” of the spiritual leader as the Lutherans’ 500th anniversary approaches.

Bishop Nikolaus Schneider, Germany’s top Protestant bishop, was so elated by the Pope’s words on Benedict that he told journalists that Luther had, in effect, been rehabilitated.

“Luther has experienced a de facto rehabilitation today through this appreciation of his work,” Schneider, who also heads the Evangelical Church in Germany, said, according to Reuters.

Schneider, who had just come from a private meeting with the pontiff, said, “We heard this very clearly from the mouth of the pope. What follows now formally is another question … but that’s not so important for me,” Reuters reported.

Exaggerated

Rev. Federico Lombardi, Vatican Spokesman, disagreed. “To say that would be exaggerated. What this is about is having deep faith and I think it emphasizes the commonalities we have in our love of faith,” Reuters reported.

With the pending celebration of the 500^th anniversary of Luther’s 95 Theses of 1517, some Protestants are hopeful Luther will not be viewed by Catholics as a heretic, but as a leading Christian theologian.

Erfurt’s Bishop Ilse Junkermann told Reuters, “It would be nice if they could declare him a doctor of the Church.”Erfurt’s Augustine Monastery is where Luther once served as a Catholic monk and later became a theologian.

Other Lutherans are irked at the thought that their founder should need to be “rehabilitated,” and argue that they do not need to have a stamp of approval from the Vatican.

Pope visits Luther’s monastery

When the Pope visited Germany, one of his stops was a historical visit to the Erfurt Augustine monastery where Luther was a monk. Thies Gundlach, a deputy of the German Lutheran Church told the AP, “Leaders from both sides of the church were quick to underline that the pontiff’s mere presence in the heartland of the Reformation was a key signal to how vastly relations have improved.”

Gundlach told the AP, “It must be recalled that the pope has come to this monastery in Erfurtas, a gesture that is an indication that he is fully aware of its meaning.”

Luther was ordained in Erfurt and later became a professor of theology. However, he began to dispute some teachings of the Church in 1517, sparking the Protestant Reformation which later became the Lutheran church.

This led Pope Leo X to excommunicate Luther in 1521 as he issued a decree where he said Luther was “the slave of a depraved mind,” and that his followers were a “pernicious and heretical sect.”

Things have changed in recent decades. Today, some Lutherans and Catholics are seeking the formation of a joint commission to examine Luther’s excommunication and the Reformation.

First pope to read Luther

Benedict, who is German, is the first pope who has read the writings of Luther and has expressed admiration for Luther’s focus on Jesus, his highlighting of the Bible, and deep faith.

When Benedict was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he played a leading role in navigating the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran accord which reached agreements on some theological issues and enhanced relations between the two faiths.

Benedict, during an ecumenical service that was held in the chapel of the Augustine monastery, praised Luther’s “deep passion and driving force” in his beliefs, even though he did not outline any concrete plan on how to better unify Christians – to the disappointment of some.

There still remain obstacles to a more congenial accord, even though Schneider said the Lutherans would be amenable to meeting the Catholic Church halfway by not insisting that Luther is presented as “an untouchable hero who never did anything wrong,” Reuters reported.

On the side of the Vatican there is a traditional hesitation to officially undo the work of a previous pontiff. However, some Vatican officials suggest that there is no need to rehabilitate Luther because upon his death, the ban had expired.

Cardinal Edward Cassidy, a top 1999Vatican ecumenical official had a different suggestion saying, “One cannot do anything for Martin Luther now because Martin Luther, wherever he is, is not worried about these condemnations,” Reuters said.

During the ecumenical service, Schneider said to the pontiff, “It is time to take real steps for reconciliation,” and suggested that Catholics celebrate alongside Protestants during the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation which will take place in 2017.

Schneider told Reuters that he has yet to invite Benedict personally to the 2017 Lutheran commemorations. “I have not reached that point, but I invited [Benedict] to take a different view of our celebration as one of the power of the Gospel and the theology of God.”

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Christian leaders have expressed concern that clergy are not going to play a role in New York City’s 10^th year anniversary of 9/11.

Fernando Cabrera, pastor of New Life Outreach International in the Bronx, said he felt there was an element of shortsightedness in the decision, pointing out that government has limitations on what it can or cannot do.

Cabrera, who is also a New York City councilman, told CNN, “There’s certain things that government cannot do, and answering questions of meaning of ‘Why are we going through this?’ and ‘Where am I going to get strength from?’ those are existential questions that can only be answered from a spiritual aspect.”

Cabrera, who has started a Facebook page challenging the mayor’s decision, said that religious leaders are “one of the pillars that carried us through. They were the spiritual and emotional backbone, and when you have a situation where people are trying to find meaning, where something is bigger than them, when you have a crisis of this level, they often look to the clergy,” The Christian Post reported.

Even the former deputy mayor of New York, Rudy Washington, was outraged by the exclusion. Washington, who was in office when the attack occurred 10 years ago, said, “This is America, and to have a memorial service where there’s no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me. I feel like America has lost its way,” according to The Christian Post.

Focus on families

Evelyn Erskine, spokeswoman for New York City’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said the focus of the 10^th year anniversary will be on the families of the victims.

Erskine told CNN, “The ceremony was designed in coordination with 9/11 families with a mixture of readings that are spiritual, historical and personal in nature. It has been widely supported for the past 10 years and rather than have disagreements over which religious leaders participate we would like to keep the focus of our commemoration ceremony on the family members of those who died.”

Not everyone buys the explanation.

John Long, of the Federation of Fire Chaplains, told The Christian Post, “You can’t have a memorial service without religion. If it wasn’t for God and his direction, you couldn’t have memorial services to begin with.”

The issue of inclusiveness and the difficulty that would come in representing all faiths in the NYC 10^th anniversary of 9/11 was also raised by those who agree with Bloomberg’s decision.

However, Long told The Christian Post, “For the National Day of Prayer they include different religious groups. What’s the difference between the National Day of Prayer and the 10th anniversary memorial?”

In 2001, shortly after 9/11, Washington, who was New York’s deputy mayor at the time, organized a Prayer for America service at Yankee Stadium. Leaders came representing all major religions, who addressed the large crowd in the event, which was also televised.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield wrote in Fox News, “Mayor Bloomberg has rightly defended the inclusion of the so-called Ground Zero Cross in the 9/11 Memorial and also defended those who want to build a mosque and Muslim community center nearby.

“So why now, at a critical moment when faith is so central for so many New Yorkers is the city officially unable to find a way to honor that reality and recall the important role faith has played in the lives of so many people both in New York City and around the world – both in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and in the days and years since?”

Cabrera told CNN, “This is not a message of unity when you begin to exclude people who were crucial in the turnaround moment that we needed.”

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Muslim and Christian leaders came together recently to commemorate a tragedy in a small Christian neighborhood in Pakistan two years before, and to denounce the perpetrators, who have not been punished.

The leaders came together in an interfaith event that was held at the Sacred Heart Church in Gojra last Monday, to mark the second year anniversary of the August 2009 tragedy, where 10 people died, including a family of seven who were set on fire; and dozens of Christian homes were razed to the ground.

Two Muslim leaders apologized for the violence during the event. The Muslim Sufi leaders said they regretted the violence which is inconsistent with the “spirit of Islam,” Catholic News India reported.

In 2009, some 800 Muslims attacked Christian neighborhoods in Gojra in the Punjab region, setting buildings on fire and attacking people, leaving 10 dead. Although 70 suspects were arrested, all were acquitted.

Father Aftab James Paul, director of the diocesan commission for interfaith dialogue and ecumenism in Faisalabad told Catholic News India that the apologies of the Muslim Sufi leaders are “hugely significant.

Paul said, “Even though they weren’t in any way involved in what happened that day, the peer Sufis (Sufi masters) described Islam as a religion that does not condone killing and condemned the massacre,” Catholic News India reported.

Many of those in the interfaith conference, who were victims of the violence, were angry that no one was punished, and that all those who were arrested were set free by an anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad.

Victor Babu, whose family was murdered in the attack, recalled the event saying, “Threatening announcements from nearby mosques echoed in our houses. My wife and pregnant daughter rushed to the home of her in-laws when we heard her father-in-law was shot dead. Both were burned alive,” Catholic News India reported.

Another victim, Naveed Masih, was jailed for defending himself and his family. He spent over four months in jail, and lost his career as a former boxer. He now sells liquor for a living.

One of the speakers slammed Pakistan’s blasphemy law saying, “These innocents are not only Christian martyrs, but also of Pakistan. The blasphemy law has caused severe damages to the soft image of Pakistan in the comity of nations,” The Christian Telegraph reported.

From 1926 to 1985 only seven blasphemy cases were registered. However, after the late dictator Zia ul Haq promulgated the law, over 4,000 cases were registered to date.

In an interfaith mass, Rt. Rev. Bishop Joseph Coutts of the Diocese of Faisalabad said in his message, “The blood of the martyrs is seed of the church. The early Christians were persecuted by the Romans and Jews, (and) before conversion, Paul also persecuted Christians, but Christianity flourished very fast.”

At the same time, Coutts stressed the need for change, Christian Telegraph said. “There is injustice in society, and efforts must be made for a just and peaceful society in Pakistan.”

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Stories are emerging about the faith shared, encouragement given and faith received during the 22^nd annual U.S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon from May 1 to May 5, especially in the southeast where tornados wreaked destruction last month.

One woman from Pleasant Grove, Al., lost all her possessions, but still insisted on reading the bible during her scheduled time slot of 15 minutes even as she wept, according to The Alabama Baptist.

Another girl, afflicted with spina bifida, climbed 23 steps with determination to read the bible out loud, shedding tears at the verse where Peter said, “No, Lord, you will never wash my feet,” The Alabama Baptist reported.

The 22^nd annual U.S. Bible Reading Marathon went on for 90 hours nonstop, held in different cities across the nation and ending on May 5, which was the 60^th anniversary of the National Day of Prayer.

Several churches and denominations collaborated throughout the country for the bible reading. Everyone was welcome to read or to simply come and listen. Church groups, community leaders and children came. Joggers paused to listen and cars stopped for a while. The homeless sat on the steps. Some offered to read, especially at midnight when there was an unfilled slot, The Alabama Baptist said.

The Birmingham reading was in English, Korean and Swahili, an organizer said. The event was hosted by Southside Baptist Church at the request of Liberty Park Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills, according to The Alabama Baptist.

Many religious groups and denominations collaborated including Catholics, members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, Baptists, Messianic Jews and some nondenominational groups, The Alabama Baptist reported.

Senior pastor J. Stephen Jones told The Alabama Baptist that the Bible Reading coincided with their own anniversary. “It’s the 100th anniversary of [Southside Baptist’s] sanctuary this year. … It’s a beautiful place to stand to [read the Bible].”

Jones told The Alabama Baptist, “We’re not screaming [the reading of the Bible] out … but it’s a powerful image for the community and our church. God’s Word spoken out into the world and marketplace is an important part of being faithful to the Scriptures. I think it’s going to mean almost as much for the readers as it is for the listeners.”

The reading went on even amid very hot weather and through the rains, The Alabama Baptist said.

Bleckly, GA

Elsewhere, in Bleckley County, GA, readers were thankful that they were not affected by last month’s tornado damage, but at the same time they prayed for those who were, 41 WMGT said.

While the bible was being read, over from 100 to 300 people gathered at the Bleckley County courthouse on the front lawn to bow their heads and thank God for being spared, even as they prayed for hope for those most in need of it, 41 WMGT reported.

Many in attendance believed the Bible Reading Marathon was extremely important, in light of what many view to be the worst destruction ever in the southeast from a series of tornado attacks in late April.

Cochran mayor Cliff Avant told 41 WMGT, “In wake of everything that’s been happening around us, the terrible weather, just the economic times that we live in, it’s been great for us to focus on what should be the focus of every community, and that’s the bible.”

Jerri Tuck, who coordinated the event, told 41 WMGT the turnout reflected the faith of those who came. “They are not just hearers of the word, they’re doers. They bring their faith into the market place so to speak and obviously they are not ashamed as you can see from the events tonight. They proclaimed the word from the steps of our courthouse.”

Storm and rain

In Berryville, AR, there was rain and thunder during the opening and closing ceremonies and at different times during the Bible Marathon Reading, but it didn’t stop a thing, The Lovely County said.

Some 256 volunteers still came for their 15-minute time slots to read the entire bible from Genesis to Revelations continuously for 91 hours. The event lasted until the late afternoon of May 5, the National Day of Prayer, The Lovely County said.

Not void

Wilma Hart of Pleasant Grove Baptist told The Alabama Baptist, “You don’t leave [the event] the same person. It’s too tremendous.”

Avery Walker told The Alabama Baptist, “We look at it as glorifying God. [God] said if His Word goes out, it will not return void, and that’s the promise we are claiming.” The Alabama Baptist

Sources:

http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=19008&pricat_art=1

http://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1728856.html

http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/3867-bleckley-co-remember-tornado-victims-in-bible-reading

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Even as pro-life groups across the nation are participating in anti-abortion activities to coincide with the 38^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, an abortion doctor in Philadelphia was charged with eight counts of murder.

Kermit Gosnell, 69, was charged in the death of a woman from anesthesia overdose, and seven babies that he killed by slicing the backs of their necks and cutting their spines, according to The New American.

Also arrested were Gosnell’s wife and eight others. District Attorney Seth Williams said Gosnell “induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh and eighth month of pregnancy, and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord,” The New American reported.

Gosnell is also indicted for the third-degree murder of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who died from anesthesia overdose in Nov. 20, 2009. Gosnell, a family practitioner, was never a certified OB/GYN, The New American said. He allowed unlicensed personnel, including a 15-year-old, to administer anesthesia and perform operations, The New American said.

New York Pro life presscon

Meanwhile, pro-lifers across the nation stepped up activities in anticipation of Roe v. Wade (the Supreme Court 1973 decision that legalized abortion), The Wall Street Journal reported.

In New York, the Chiaroscuro Foundation held a press conference with the archbishop of New York, a leader of Agudath Israel of America, an African-American pastor and the spokeswoman for Democrats for Life, The WSJ said.

According to WSJ, 41 percent of pregnancies in New York are aborted. In terms of demographics, the rate is more than twice as much for Hispanics than for whites. Also, the ratio of abortions to live births for African-Americans is 1, 489 abortions to 1,000 live births.

Meanwhile, NY City Council speaker Christine Quinn is advocating a bill that will require Crisis Pregnancy Centers to, among others, advertise that they don’t perform abortions nor refer abortion clinics, WSJ said.

However, WSJ noted that Planned Parenthood 2008 statistics (their most recent) showed that 324,000 abortions were performed nationwide, and 2,405 adoption referrals were made by them.

Washington state prolife rally

In Washington state, thousands marched to the Capitol armed with roses, signs and crosses for the 33^rd annual March For Life rally. Across from the crowd, more than 10 pro-choice advocates, most of them in high school, gathered at the Temple of Justice with signs such as, “Keep your laws off my body,” The Seattle Times reported.

One of them, Phoebe Blanding, 17, told The Seattle Times that she has been protesting the March For Life rally since she was 11 years old.

Up to 50 million abortions were done in America since Roe V. Wade. Under the George W. Bush administration late-term and partial-birth abortions were banned by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gonzalez v. Carhart, The New American reported.

The Born Alive Infant Protection Act, also passed under Bush, protects the right to life of infants who are born alive despite an abortion, The New American said.

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Claiming on their website that they are “a new testament church, based on the bible,” the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., tends to attract media attention by engaging in activities that rank high in shock effect.

On Monday, the group plans on holding a protest against Gainesville’s first gay mayor. In the past, they had held up signs saying, “No homo mayor,” The Huffington Post said.

On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, the church plans on celebrating the tragedy by burning the Quran.

Last year on its front lawn they put up signs that said “Islam is of the devil,” which left residents aghast, causing some to say the message is hateful, The Christian Post said.

A number of Christians question the methods of this church believing it conveys more hate than love, but Dove’s senior pastor Terry Jones is nonplussed.

He says Christian critics should “stop criticizing and find another way to raise awareness about Islam or to share the Gospel,” The Christian Post said.

Jones authored a book called “Islam is of the Devil” and admits that protests are one of the key missions for his church. He says the goal is to warn, and help Muslims to convert, the Religious News Service said.

Jones said people have been giving him Qurans to burn. The idea for burning Qurans, he added, partly came from a Facebook page which called for an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” RNS said.

On Sept. 11, Muslims will celebrate their Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of Ramadan. Ramzy Kilic, communications director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the organization does not wish to be reactive in how they will commemorate the holiday. They hope to share Islamic traditions and Qurans with churchgoers and the community.

A LifeWay Research survey that was released in April discovered that six out of 10 pastors believe that Christianity and Islam should attempt to live together peacefully in the United States, The Christian Post said.

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