Florida Catholic May 1-7, 2020
NATION
Leaders press Trump to support aid to schools
WASHINGTON President Don- ald Trump said he would continue to support issues vital to the Catho- lic Church, especially abortion, re- ligious freedom and school choice, in a conference call with Catholic leaders and educators. He also said he would seek federal finan- cial support for Catholic schools as they confront the coronavirus pan- demic. Many schools across the country have sustained severe fi- nancial stresses since the pandem- ic emerged in the U.S. in February, according to the National Catholic Educational Association. Crux , an online Catholic news organization, reported on the April 26, 2020 call after obtaining a recording of the event. Trump described himself as the "best (president) in the history of the Catholic Church" to the 600 Catholic leaders and educators, ac- cording to the report.
WORLD
Bishops announce 'families without hunger' plan
MEXICO CITY Mexico's bish- ops have called for the federal government to reconsider its CO- VID-19 response, urging the presi- dent to set aside a suite of mega- projects and instead put the funds toward families facing pandemic hardships. The bishops also an- nounced an initiative - "Families without hunger" - to combat ris- ing hunger as millions of Mexicans lose work and sources of income with the spread of COVID-19. "We invite those with the decision pow- er over large national projects and public works to consider the oppor- tunity to allocate these resources, during the months in which many Mexicans are without work, to mit- igate the food shortages in many homes. ... Health, food and work are inescapable demands in this COVID-19 health emergency," the bishops said in April 24, 2020 state- ment. "We exhort and ask all Mexi- cans, including (governments) to forget personal, party, ideological, political and religious interests and unite in saving every human life." The statement alluded to projects being pushed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, including an $8 billion refinery, two railways and an airport near Mexico City. The president has provided fund- ing for these mega-projects amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Pope points to pandemic's impact on the poor
VATICAN CITY The serious economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic is seen most clearly in the lives of the poor, the pope said in a message to people who write and distribute "street pa- pers. The lives of millions of people in our world, already facing many difficult challenges and oppressed by the pandemic, have changed and are undergoing a harsh trial. The people who are most fragile, most invisible, the people who are homeless risk paying the heaviest price," the pope said in a message distributed April 27, 2020. Pope Francis wrote his message to those who work on more than 100 small newspapers and magazines in 35 countries; most of the publications are sold by the homeless and were founded as a way to highlight the plight of the urban poor and offer them a way to earn a living. "I want to greet the world of street papers and, especially, their sellers who are homeless for the most part, people seriously marginalized, unemployed," he said, estimating that some 20,500 homeless people "live and have a job thanks to the sale of these extraordinary news- papers."
Outbreak discovered at Rome university
ROME At least 19 people at a Rome pontifical university tested positive for the coronavirus and six have been hospitalized for their symptoms, the rector said. After one resident at the Pontifical Salesian University began having symptoms related to COVID-19, lo- cal health authorities were alerted and they began to test all residents, the rector, Salesian Father Mauro Mantovani told the newspaper Il Messaggero April 25, 2020. The uni- versity, which has been conducting classes online since March 5, 2020 houses some 280 members of six religious orders. The 19 people who tested positive were put in isolation. Tests on all residents were expected to be finished by April 28, 2020.
Dutch cardinal expects euthanasia to surge
MANCHESTER, England A Dutch cardinal predicted that the number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands will surge after the country's highest court gave the green light to allow the killing of dementia patients no longer able to give their consent. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled April 22, 2020 that doctors could euthanize patients with severe de- mentia and who could no longer express their wishes if they had left an advance request in writing to say they wished to die. Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht, president of the Bishops' Conference of the Netherlands, said, however, the court's ruling would not only make it easier for doctors to take the lives of dementia patients but would also put them under pressure to do so. "One may fear that the Supreme Court's judgment, though making physicians perhaps more uncer- tain in performing euthanasia in patients with advanced dementia, will not lead in general to a decrease of the number of cases of euthana- sia and medically assisted suicide," Cardinal Eijk said on behalf of the bishops' conference. "Patients and their relatives could think on the basis of the judgment ... that there is a kind of a right to euthanasia in cases of advanced dementia with suffering, deemed without pros- pect (of recovery) and unbearable, though the Supreme Court does not say that and the law on euthanasia does not oblige a physician to per- form euthanasia," he said in a state- ment sent April 24, 2020 to Catholic News Service.
Italian bishops demand plan for resuming Masses
ROME The Italian bishops' con- ference accused the government of adopting plans to ease the coun- try's COVID-19 lockdown rules in a way that "arbitrarily excludes the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people." The statement was re- leased April 26, 2020 shortly after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced a very gradual easing of the lockdown measures in stages through June 1, 2020. The measures foresee the possibility of once again holding funeral services, with a maximum of 15 people present, be- ginning May 4, 2020 but not regular Masses. The bishops said Catholics had "accepted, with suffering and a sense of responsibility, the govern- ment limitations imposed to face a health emergency." Masses with the public present and all other gather- ings of any kind have been banned in Italy since March 9, 2020.
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At left, children in Les Cayes, Haiti, open presents they received through the Box of Joy program of Cross Catholic Outreach. The Boca Raton-based relief and development agency project is aimed to offer small gifts to children in need during the holiday season enters another year of preparation and distribution. Through the program, parishes and groups nationwide help package and send small presents in shoeboxes to children in Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua and El Salvador. The gifts inside the boxes include toys, clothing, school supplies and religious coloring books. Cross Catholic Outreach has sponsored Box of Joy for over five consecutive years. It hopes the 2020 program will continue to be successful. It reported this past Christmas season, the program grew by 30%, in terms of the number of children who will receive a Box of Joy - 75,334 children received a Box of Joy in 2019, compared to 2018's total of 58,030 children. For information, visit www. crosscatholic.org/box-of-joy.
PROJECT PROVIDES GIFTS TO CHILDREN ABROAD
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