Praying for Those with COVID & Healthcare Workers, Pope Calls Being Without Public Again ‘Unfortunate’ But Responsible

November 04, 2020  Deborah Castellano Lubov General Audience

Due to the increasingly rising number of COVID19 cases every day, and increasing deaths, throughout the world and in Italy, Pope Francis returned to privately streaming his Wednesday General Audiences today November 4, 2020, while in Italy the daily number of new cases falls around 30,000, and daily deaths between 200 and 300.

This move to return without public this week was communicated in a Oct. 29 brief statement Oct. 29, issued by the Holy See Press Office to accredited journalists.

“From next Wednesday, November 4, 2020, the Holy Father’s General Audiences will again be broadcast from the Library of the Apostolic Palace,” it began, noting: “This follows the identification of a positive case of COVID-19 during the General Audience of Wednesday, October 21,” and is being done “in order to avoid any eventual future risk for the participants’ health.”

No changes have been made, for the time being, of the Pope’s Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Sundays at noon, which are still taking place according to the necessary health protocols.

He began his remarks to those following noting that it is “unfortunate” to no longer be with the public due the resurgence of COVID, but expresses it is responsible to act in accordance with the recommendations against gatherings by the authorities.

This morning, the Pope continued his catechesis on prayer and specially Jesus as a teacher of prayer, and how his prayer life characterized all the Lord did.

“Consistent prayer,” the Pope reminded, “produces a progressive transformation, makes us strong in times of tribulation, gives us the grace to be supported by Him who loves us and always protects us.”

Toward the audience’s conclusion, the Pope also invited that in this month of November, “let us pray especially for our deceased loved ones, and for all who have died, that the Lord in his mercy will welcome them to the banquet of eternal life. Upon you and your families I invoke the joy of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Below are the Pope’s full remarks provided in English by the Vatican:

Catechesis on prayer – 13. Jesus, Teacher of prayer

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Unfortunately we have had to return to holding this audience in the library, to defend ourselves against contagion by Covid. This also teaches us that we must be very attentive to the prescriptions of the authorities, both the political authorities and the health authorities, to defend ourselves against this pandemic. Let us offer to the Lord this distance between us, for the good of all, and let us think, let us think a lot about the sick, about those who are already marginalised when they enter the hospitals, let us think of the doctors, the nurses, the volunteers, the many people who work with the sick at this time: they risk their life but they do so out of love for their neighbour, as a vocation. Let us pray for them.

During His public life, Jesus constantly availed himself of the power of prayer. The Gospels show this to us when He retired to secluded places to pray. These are sober and discreet observations, that allow us only to imagine those prayerful dialogues. They clearly demonstrate, however, that even at times of greater dedication to the poor and the sick, Jesus never neglected His intimate dialogue with the Father. The more He was immersed in the needs of the people, the more He felt the need to repose in the Trinitarian Communion, to return to the Father and the Spirit.

There is, therefore, a secret in Jesus’ life, hidden from human eyes, which is the fulcrum of everything else. Jesus’ prayer is a mysterious reality, of which we have a slight intuition, but which allows us to interpret His entire mission from the right perspective. In those solitary hours – before dawn or at night – Jesus immersed Himself in intimacy with the Father, that is, in the Love that every soul thirsts for. This is what emerges from the very first days of His public ministry.

One Sabbath, for example, the town of Capernaum was transformed into a “field hospital”: after sunset they brought all the sick to Jesus, and He healed them. Before dawn, however, Jesus disappeared: He withdrew to a solitary place and prayed. Simon and the others looked for Him and when they found Him they said: “Everyone is searching for you!” How does Jesus reply? “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out” (see Mk 1:35-38). Jesus always goes a bit further, further in prayer with the Father, and beyond, to other villages, other horizons, to go and preach to other peoples.

Prayer was the rudder that guides Jesus’ course. It was not success, it was not consensus, it was not the seductive phrase “everyone is searching for you”, that dictated the stages of His mission. The path Jesus charted was the least comfortable one, but it was the one by which He obeyed the Father’s inspiration, which Jesus heard and welcomed in His solitary prayer.

The Catechism states that “When Jesus prays He is already teaching us how to pray” (no. 2607). Therefore, from Jesus’ example we can derive some characteristics of Christian prayer.

UPLB Perspective
By PB Yapjoco
November 2, 2020

Four Aetas were pressed with trumped up charges for allegedly violating the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, the Republic Act (RA) 9516 or the Illegal Possession of Explosives, and the RA 10591 o Violation Against Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition.

Among those being charged were Jay Garung, Rosalyn Urbano, Kiray Serrano and Junior Ramos, who are now experiencing detainment and separated from their families in Sitio Lumibao, Zambales.

Last August 21, over 192 families and 659 residents faced sudden eviction due to a supposed ongoing conflict with the National People’s Army (NPA), the 73rd Division Reconnaissance Company, and the 48th Infantry Battalion under the 7th Infantry Division Philippine Army (7ID PA).

The said military operation resulted into numerous bombings and attacks within the Aeta lands, disrupting the security and livelihood for hundreds of families. In an attempt to get affected Aetas to surrender in being part of the NPA, members of the 7ID PA allegedly resorted to degrading methods of torture and detainment, such as forcing victims to eat human feces and verbal abuse.

Downplaying human rights

These bombings were denied by the 7ID Public Affairs Office Chief Major Amando Gutierrez, who said that no bombing happened and that Aetans were checked by a doctor.

According to the Commision on Human Rights (CHR) spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia, “… the Commission has always reminded members of the armed forces to adhere to the principles of human rights and international humanitarian law.”

This however, is contradictory to the recent statement of Pitang Garung, the mother of Lumibao 4 victim Jay Garung, who stated that Jay had been subjected to physical and mental torture since his detainment.

“Pinaparantangan nilang NPA ang anak ko… binugbog at pinagtatadyak po nila ang anak ko, tapos pinakain pa nila ng dumi ng tao ang anak ko,” she said.

According to Sandugo-Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination (SANDUGO) the bombardment of the Aeta community was meant to pave way for mining explorations of Dizon Copper-Silver Mines, Inc.

Some statements, contained in the documentary “Francesco” by the director Evgeny Afineevsky, elicited, in these past days, diverse reactions and interpretations. Therefore, here are some useful points in order to bring about, at his request, an adequate understanding of the words of the Holy Father.

More than a year ago, in an interview, Pope Francis responded to two distinct questions in two diverse moments that, in the aforementioned documentary, were edited and published as one answer without the proper contextualization which generated confusion.  The Holy Father has made in the first place a pastoral reference regarding the necessity of not discriminating within the family a son or a daughter because of his or her homosexual orientation. This is referred to in the following words: “Homosexuals have the right to be in a family; they are children of God who have a right to belong to a family. No one should be thrown out of a family nor someone’s life rendered difficult (or impossible) because of this (i.e. homosexual orientation)”.

The following citation in the Post-Synodal Exhortation on love in the family Amoris laetitia (2016) can clarify such expressions: “With the Synodal Fathers I have taken into consideration the situation of families who live the experience of having a member  with homosexual tendency; an experience which is not easy neither for the parents nor for the children. We would like therefore to reaffirm that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be respected in his or her dignity and accepted with respect, taking care of avoiding “every trace of discrimination” and particularly every form of aggression  and violence. These families should instead be assured of a respectful guidance, so that those who manifest homosexual tendency may avail of the necessary help to understand and fully realize the will of God in their lives”. (n. 250)

A subsequent question in the interview was instead in reference to a local legislation ten years ago in Argentina on “matrimonies igualitarios (egalitarian marriages) of couples of the same sex” and the opposition of the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires on that regard. On this matter Pope Francis affirmed that “it is incongruent to speak of homosexual marriage”, stating further that, in such particular context, he spoke (instead) of the right of these persons to have legal protection: “that which we must do is a law of civil union (convivencia civil); they have the right to be legally protected. I defended this matter”.

The Holy Father articulated in an interview of 2014: “Marriage is between a man and a woman. The secular States would like to justify civil unions to regulate various situations of convivence, forced by the necessity to regulate economic matters between persons, for example to guarantee health insurance. It deals with agreements of convivence of different kinds, of which I cannot list its varied forms. It is necessary to see the various cases and evaluate them in their diversity.

It is therefore evident that Pope Francis was referring to particular State provisions, not definitely in reference to the doctrine of the Church, reaffirmed numerous times over the years.

Press Statement
Amnesty International Philippines

As a Senate committee  begins its inquiry  into the issue on 3 November 2020, Amnesty International calls on the Philippine government to end its vicious and at times deadly practice of red-tagging- the labeling of groups or individuals perceived to be critical of the government as “communists” or “terrorists”. Instead of maligning and endangering people for the lawful exercise of their freedom of expression, the government should seek to address legitimate criticism of its policies and practices. In the prevailing context where red-tagged individuals become the targets of harassment, threats and even killings, courts and pertinent  government agencies must take concrete steps to ensure the safety and protection  of these individuals.

On 21 October, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. warned Filipino  celebrity  Liza Soberano in a Facebook post that she would “suffer  the same fate” as Josephine Anne Lapira, who was killed  in a clash in 2017 between government forces and alleged members of the communist New People’s Army. This followed Soberano’s expression of support for women’s rights organization and political party Gabriela, calling on influencers  to speak up about the rights of women and children.

Parlade also publicly announced that former and current Congressional representatives of progressive party-list  groups, including Gabriela, are under surveillance  for being “card-bearing members of the Communist  Party of the Philippines” (CPP), adding that the anti-terror  law is now “in  effect”. Parlade is the commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Southern Luzon Command and spokesperson of the government-created National Task Force to End Local Communist  Armed Conflict  (NTF-ELCAC).

The phenomenon of red-tagging has been happening for decades now but has intensified in the last few years under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, following the breakdown of peace talks between the government and the CPP in 2017. Duterte’s subsequent  Executive Order (EO) 70 provides for a “Whole-of-Nation approach in defeating the Local Communist Terrorist Groups” and led to the creation of the NTF-ELCAC. Observers point to this moment in time as the beginning of a renewed campaign of red-tagging, threats and harassment against human rights defenders, political activists,  lawyers, trade unionists and other targeted groups perceived to be affiliated with the progressive left.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights along with human rights organizations have called for the immediate  end to this approach, expressing concern that the government’s dangerously broad counter-insurgency  strategy has led to an increase in human rights violations against human rights defenders and political activists  across the country.

Amnesty International  remains deeply concerned by increasing cases of killings, as well as the arbitrary arrests and detention  of red-tagged individuals. Recent examples of killings include  the murder of activist and peace advocate Randall Echanis on 10 August 2020 and human rights defender  Zara Alvarez on 17 August 2020. Echanis and Alvarez were among the hundreds of individuals named in a “terrorist” list drawn up by the Department of Justice and submitted to a Philippine court. Other political activists and human rights defenders have been arrested and detained following  raids in their offices by security forces that allegedly involved fabrication  of evidence, such as the planting  of firearms and explosives. Those still  detained include  Reina Mae Nasino, a community  organizer for Kadamay, an advocacy group for the urban poor. During her detention  in October 2020, Nasino’s three-month-old baby died after being separated from her and the incident  sparked public outrage. Amnesty International  is concerned that killings, arrests and detention  of political activists and human rights defenders will continue  as long as indiscriminate red-tagging by the government persists.

Amnesty International  is also concerned that the recent approval of the alarming implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of  Republic  Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism  Act of 2020 provides the government further  unchecked powers to unduly target anyone who may be red-tagged under the legislation. The IRR, for example, gives power to an Anti-Terrorism Council- composed of presidential  appointees- to publish  the names of those it designates on its own as “terrorists”. This practice is in contravention  of international  standards on due process and the presumption of innocence, with the only right of appeal being to the Council itself.  It allows a pre-charge detention  period of a maximum  of 24 days, which greatly exceeds norms under international standards. The law remains in violation  of international  standards on human rights and counter­ terrorism with its vague and overbroad definitions of ‘terrorism’, highlighting the risk that it can be used to target government critics. In addition, it empowers security forces to conduct surveillance,  endangering individuals’ right to privacy.

Amnesty International  calls on the Philippine government to end the “red-tagging” of civil  society organizations and political activists  and cease violence and threats of violence against them. The government should ensure adequate protection  for those who have been red-tagged, and bring those responsible for threats and violence to justice in fair trials.  Philippine authorities  should also publicly instruct  their officials to end the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and activists simply  for exercising their rights or carrying out human rights work.

Under international  law and standards, the Philippines has an obligation  to ensure the protection of the rights of all, including the rights to life, freedom of expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly, as guaranteed by the International  Covenant on Civil and Political  Rights (ICCPR) to which the Philippines is a state party. Ensuring that human rights defenders and civil  society activists  are able to undertake their professional activities free from harassment, threats, and harm is an essential component  of the promotion and protection  of human rights in the country.

Finally, the organization urges the government to ensure that the Anti-Terrorism  Act and its implementing rules and regulations are amended and brought in line with  international  standards on counter-terrorism, and not used to unduly target those that are red-tagged by the Duterte administration.

To our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to all people of good will:

A lot of people have sought clarification about the recent remarks Pope Francis had presumably made with regard to “civil unions”. Allow us to share some thoughts on the matter through the following reflection entitled, “Where Pope Francis is Coming From.”

The Pope speaks mainly as a shepherd who is willing to leave behind the ninety-nine (99) in search of the one lost sheep. Just because they stray doesn‟t mean they don‟t belong to the fold anymore. He is like a loving parent who just would not give up on any of his children. Just because they behave differently, or they live their lives in a manner that he does not approve of, does not mean they are not his children anymore.

This Pope has been consistent with the radicality of Jesus of Nazareth whom he calls the human face of the Merciful God. It is easier to save the good and the law-abiding; it is something else to choose to save even sinners and law-breakers with no other motive than the fact that they too are children of God and have been entrusted to his care.

In his own time, Jesus was misunderstood and judged by people because he associated with people of questionable reputation in Jewish society: the tax collectors, prostitutes, the lepers, the Roman soldiers, the rebels, the Samaritans, the people who were regarded as “sinners” in orthodox Jewish society.

What did he do? He did not avoid them. He also did not tell them that what they were doing was right. He did not openly approve of prostitution, or the use of violence to gain justice, or collaboration with the Roman government. He didn’t openly say he approved of the religion of the Samaritans or the politics of the Romans. He just treated them with the same kindness and compassion that he extended to any human being; and he was judged for it. He refused to judge the woman who had been caught in adultery without saying that what she did was right. He just did not think that condemning people or judging them was right thing to do in order to work for their conversion.

He didn’t bring them to conversion by judging them, but by loving them, caring for them, being compassionate to them. He was never of the opinion that people who did bad things were to be treated as bad people. He hated the sin but continued to love the sinner.

He also did not approve of the manner in which the guardians of morality and orthodoxy in his time conducted themselves. He did not think building the kingdom of God was a matter of teaching people proper doctrine and morals. He did it rather by emptying himself, by immersing himself fully in the human condition.

Nais lamang po namin ibahagi sa ICSI ang isang video mula sa Deutsche Welle (DW) tungkol sa kung paano nagawa ng ibang bansa (partikular sa India) na kontrolin ang pagkalat ng COVID-19 sa mga informal settlements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avc7jA00N18&feature=youtu.be. 

Bagamat hindi naman po natin nababalitaang malubha ang pagkalat ng COVID-19 sa mga siksikang pamayanan sa Pilipinas (o baka hindi lang ipinapaalam sa publiko), magandang suriin natin ang tugon ng pamahalaan sa COVID-19 at isa nga rito ang pagpapatupad ng Balik-Probinsya, Balik-Pag-asa (BP2) Program. May ilan din tayong naririnig na balita tungkol sa pag-evict ng mga pamilya sa gitna ng umiiral na community quarantine.
Speaking of Balik-Probinsya, ibinabahagi rin po namin sa inyo ang latest naming publication na Intersect Quick Facts (IQF) na naglalaman ng ilang datos na sana’y makatulong sa pag-unawa natin hindi lamang sa layunin ng BP2 kundi sa internal migration na nais tugunan (o i-reverse) ng programang ito ng administrasyon. Sana may mapulot po kayo sa mga ito.

PMPI Urban