Pope’s message of hope launched into space

The satellite carries ‘nano’ version of his book, ‘Why Are You Afraid? Have You No Faith?’ and will beam his words back to Earth

Pope Francis waves as he leaves at the end of the weekly general audience on June 7 at St. Peter’s square as in The Vatican. (Photo: AFP)

By Carol Glatz, OSV News
Published: June 14, 2023 04:49 AM GMT

Pope Francis’ message of hope for humanity encased in a small satellite blasted off into space June 12 and soon will beam his words back to Earth.

“The ‘Spei Satelles’ mission successfully launched from the U.S. base in Vandenberg, California, and in the coming days, it plans to deploy the CubeSat into orbit, carrying Pope Francis’ message of hope” contained in a nano version of the book, “Why Are You Afraid? Have You No Faith?” according to a press release June 13 from the Vatican Dicastery for Communication and agencies involved in the project.

Once deployed into orbit, the microsatellite was set to transmit papal messages of hope and peace in English, Italian and Spanish that any amateur radio receiver should be able to pick up. Its radio signals will be transmitted on the frequency of 437.5 MHz “with modulation GMSK at 9600 bit/s and protocol AX.25,” the press release said.

“At sunrise in different parts of the world, individuals will have the opportunity to receive words of comfort and encouragement along the paths of hope,” it said.

In addition to the papal nano book, the “Spei Satelles” mission also carries a chip with the names and commitments of men, women and children on Earth who requested a “boarding pass” to take part in the mission.

Since speisatelles.org was launched March 27, 2023, the press release said, “hundreds of individuals from all over the world have joined the project.”

By registering online, it said Catholics can symbolically “board” the mission by committing to carry out a corporal or spiritual work of mercy, and non-Catholics can perform a gesture or deed that fosters human fraternity.

“Given the success and the educational potential of membership, even though the launch has already taken place, it will still be possible to sign up, and names will be remotely written on the memory in orbit through the ground control station,” it added.

This way, the pope’s words will have symbolic significance “up there” in the heavens and concrete action “down here” on Earth, Father Luca Peyron, head of the Archdiocese of Turin’s apostolate for the digital world, said March 27.

The microsatellite was one of 72 CubeSats that took off from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California June 12 with “microsatellites, hosted payloads and orbital transfer vehicles on the Transporter 8 rideshare mission” for customers from more than 18 countries, according to SpaceFlightNow.com.

The “Spei Satelles” space mission is promoted by the Dicastery for Communication and coordinated by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Turin.

Researchers and students from the university’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering built the CubeSat, which houses the nano book created by Italy’s National Research Council (CNR). The lab converted the 150-page book — about 86 square feet of printed material — into binary code that fit on a tiny 2 mm-by-2 mm chip, which is about the size of the tip of a crayon.

The project was unveiled at the Vatican March 27, the anniversary of the prayer service which Pope Francis led in an empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The pope’s words and images from that evening were shared worldwide first as a global live stream and then in the book.

Msgr. Lucio Adrián Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, said at a news conference unveiling the project, that the next step was to send the book literally around the world in a low Earth orbit satellite as a symbolic gesture of extending the pope’s loving embrace even farther.

The Latin name of the mission, “Spes Satelles,” can be translated as “satellite of hope” and “guardian of hope,” Msgr. Ruiz had said in March, to signify the satellite is also a guardian, keeping the pope’s message of hope alive for all of humanity.

The six-pound CubeSat, which will orbit approximately 326 miles (525 km) above the Earth’s surface, was blessed by Pope Francis during his general audience March 29.

In the June 13 press release, Msgr. Ruiz said that having Pope Francis’ message in space “serves as a sign and representation of tenderness and blessing for the world.” “The vastness of space always sparks our imagination, and now we all need to dream together again, hoping that the much-awaited peace will return to the world by involving all of us,” he said.

Be poor like those you serve, pope says

Papal message for the November celebration of the World Day of the Poor was published on the feast of St. Anthony of Padua

Pope Francis meets people as he inaugurates a new shelter, day center and soup kitchen for the poor in Palazzo Migliori across the street from St. Peter’s Square in this file photo from Nov. 15, 2019. (Photo: usccb.org)

By Justin McLellan, OSV News
Published: June 14, 2023 05:18 AM GMT

To recognize and address the poverty of others, Christians must become poor like the figure of Tobit from the Hebrew Bible, Pope Francis said.

Tobit, a blind and elderly man who dedicated his life to the service of others, “can show practical concern for the poor because he has personally known what it is to be poor,” the pope wrote in his message for the November celebration of the World Day of the Poor.

The papal message was published June 13, the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, patron of the poor. 

Christians are called to “acknowledge every poor person and every form of poverty, abandoning the indifference and the banal excuses we make to protect our illusory well-being,” Pope Francis wrote. “Regardless of the color of their skin, their social standing, the place from which they came, if I myself am poor, I can recognize my brothers and sisters in need of my help.”

The theme for World Day of the Poor 2023 is a passage from the Book of Tobit: “Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor.”

“When we encounter a poor person, we cannot look away, for that would prevent us from encountering the face of the Lord Jesus,” Pope Francis wrote.

In his message for the world day, which will be celebrated Nov. 19, Pope Francis listed an array of cultural phenomena that prevent people from caring for the poor: greater pressure to live affluently, a tendency to disregard suffering, virtual reality overtaking real life and a sense of haste that prevents people from stopping to care for others. He offered the parable of the Good Samaritan, who stops to help a man in the street beaten by robbers, to counter the hangups many people have against helping the poor.

The parable “is not simply a story from the past; it continues to challenge each of us in the here and now of our daily lives,” he said. “It is easy to delegate charity to others, yet the calling of every Christian is to become personally involved.”

The pope thanked God for the men and women “of every age and social status” who devote themselves to caring for the poor and excluded, the “ordinary people who quietly make themselves poor among the poor.”

Pope Francis also called for a “serious and effective commitment on the part of political leaders and legislators” to defend the rights enjoyed by all people to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest and social services as outlined in St. John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical “Pacem in Terris” (Peace on Earth).

While recognizing the need to pressure public institutions to defend the poor, the pope praised volunteers who serve the common good in a “spirit of solidarity and subsidiarity,” saying “it is of no use to wait passively to receive everything ‘from on high.'”

The pope also pointed to the way poverty is exacerbated by inhumane working conditions, inadequate pay, the “scourge” of job insecurity and by workplace accidents resulting in death. Young people, he said, are also afflicted by a cultural poverty that destroys their self-worth and leads to frustration and even suicide.

He urged people not to fall into “rhetorical excess” or merely consider statistics when speaking of the poor, but to remember that “the poor are persons; they have faces, stories, hearts and souls.”

“Caring for the poor is more than simply a matter of a hasty handout,” Pope Francis said, “it calls for reestablishing the just interpersonal relationships that poverty harms.”

Calling for a care for the poor marked by “Gospel realism,” the pope invited Christians to discern the genuine needs of the poor rather than their own personal hopes and aspirations.

“What the poor need is certainly our humanity, our hearts open to love,” he said.

Pope Francis praying and working from hospital

Catholic News Agency
June 13, 2023

Pope Francis delivers a brief message before the recitation of the Regina Caeli prayer on April 10, 2023. (Vatican Media)

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis is working from the hospital as he recovers from hernia surgery.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists on June 12 that Pope Francis’ “postoperative progress continues to be normal” five days after the pope underwent a three-hour surgery for an incisional hernia.

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Child marriage is legalized pedophilia, human trafficking

A Nepali youth who married at 16 but now mentors young girls on the importance of education, shows her husband’s picture on her mobile at her village home, some 520 kilometers west of Kathmandu, in this file photo from Sept. 12, 2019. Many Asian women are married off as children even though the practice of child marriage was banned by many countries decades ago. (Photo: AFP)

Crossing the Line

by Fr. Shay Cullen
UCANews
Published: June 13, 2023 04:33 AM GMT

Governments, societies and the Church have silently condoned this practice for centuries

The horrific crime of child sexual abuse is a shockingly common practice almost everywhere in the world. It was and is tolerated but seldom talked about other than as jokes and snide comments alluding to the practice by suspected pedophiles, or when a court conviction is reported.

Child sex tourists are still coming to the Philippines to abuse our children. Few are ever convicted and their crimes are increasing.

The online sexual abuse by relatives of small children has made the Philippines the shameless hub of such child abuse monitored by international police agencies.

The foreigners abuse online and then come to abuse Filipino children in person like what Irish media producer Kieran Creaven did. He came to physically abuse the children he paid to abuse online. He was arrested in the UK when caught soliciting a child there for sex abuse.

US national Donald A. Stenson, 67, was jailed recently for 10 years in the United States. He had been coming to the Philippines since 2007 to sexually abuse children as young as 11 to 17 and videoed himself doing it until 2019.

His friend, John Burgdorff, 66, came with him and together they abused more children. He was jailed in November 2022 in the US for two and a half years for abusing children in the Philippines.

“Strong-minded, dedicated Filipino prosecutors are resisting pressure”

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Opisyal ng CBCP, nakikiisa sa migrant workers at seafarers

Veritas 846
June 13, 2023
licas news philippines

Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga. (Photo by Mark Saludes)

Kinilala ng Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) at Stella Maris Philippines ang mga Migrant Workers at Seafarers bilang pakikiisa sa nalalapit na paggunita ng International Day of Family Remittance sa June 16.

Ayon kay Outgoing Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos, Vice-chairman ng CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People at CBCP Bishop Promoter ng Stella Maris Philippines, katangi-tangi ang gampanin ng mga kabilang sa sektor upang masuportahan ang pamilya na pinapatatag din ang ekonomiya ng Pilipinas.

“This International Day of Family Remittance is very praiseworthy celebration and grateful recognition of immense, valuable and essential contributions of migrant workers and seafarers all over the world, with the services and sacrifices of 200 million migrant workers who send money to over 800 million family members, lives are improved, promoted and secured. Economy is sustained and nourished,” ayon sa ipinadalang mensahe ni Bishop Santos sa Radio Veritas.

Hinimok din ng Obispo ang kapwa Pari na mag-alay ng misa para sa mga migrant seafarers at workers sa sa paggunita ng International Day of Family Remittance sa ikabubuti ng kanilang kapakanan at pamilya.

“Let us show our appreciation and gratitude to migrant workers and seafarers by promoting their rights, preserving their dignity and to protect them against injustices and exploitation,” bahagi pa ng mensaheng ipinadala ni Bishop Santos sa Radio Veritas,” Ayon sa United Nations (UN) at International Labor Organization noong 2019, aabot sa higit 200-milyon ang migrante kung saan 169-milyon ditto ay mga migrant workers sa buong mundo.

Naitala rin ng UN na noong 2022 ay umabot sa 630-bilyong dolyar ang kabuoan ng halaga na naipadala ng mga migrante sa kanilang mga pamilya sa bansa.

Sa datos ng Department of Migrant Workers at Philippine Statistics Authority noong 2022, umabot na sa 1.8-milyon ang bilang ng mga Overseas Filipino Workers habang naitala din noong nakalipas na taon na umabot sa 36.1-Billion US Dollars ang naipadalang halaga ng mga OFW para sa kanilang pamilya sa Pilipinas.

Health ministry ng simbahan, tiniyak ang pakikipagtulungan sa bagong kalihim ng DoH

Veritas 846
June 8, 2023

Father Dan Cancino of the Episcopal Commission on Health Care of the Philippine Catholic bishops’ conference lights a candle in this file photo to remember those who died of the effects of AIDS. (File photo by Mark Saludes)

Tiniyak ng komisyong pangkalusugan ng simbahan ang patuloy na pagsuporta sa mga adhikain ng bagong talagang kalihim ng Department of Health.

Ayon kay Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Health Care (CBCP-ECHC) executive secretary Fr. Dan Cancino, MI, ang pagtanggap ni Dr. Ted Herbosa sa tungkulin bilang pinuno ng DoH ay patunay lamang ng kanyang dedikasyong mapaglingkuran ang mamamayan.

“The CBCP-ECHC shares a commitment with you to improving the health and well-being of the most vulnerable and marginalized. We will journey beside you and all those working in the attempt to bring health to all, especially the many people, including children, who live on the periphery of society, and who suffer ill health and hunger,” bahagi ng pahayag ni Fr. Cancino sa panayam ng Radio Veritas.

Iginiit ni Fr. Cancino na ang pagkakaroon nang maayos na kalusugan ay karapatan ng bawat mamamayan, at hindi para sa kapakanan lamang ng iilan.

Umaasa ang opisyal ng CBCP na sa pamumuno ni Herbosa sa DOH ay higit nitong maipadama ang pagmamalasakit sa mga mahihirap sa pamamagitan ng pagsusulong at pagpapaigting ng mga programang pangkalusugan sa mga pamayanan.

Sinabi ng pari na mahalaga ito sapagkat karamihan sa mga pamayanan ang hindi ganap na naaabot o nakakatanggap ng mga serbisyong pangkalusugan.

“Let the health system focus on care for people, rather than simply treatment for specific diseases or conditions—factoring in all aspects of people’s individual lives and situations. As we are improving our health systems, never forget that we need to strengthen community systems (for health) as well,” saad ni Fr. Cancino.

Una nang nagpaabot ng pagbati si CBCP-ECHC vice chairman, Military Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio sa pagkakahirang kay Herbosa bilang bagong kalihim ng DOH at umaasang matutugunan at mabibigyang-pansin ang mga usaping pangkalusugan na mahalaga para sa kapakanan ng bawat mamamayan.

In Photos: ADB urged to stop support for fossil fuel

LiCAS News
June 13, 2023

A coalition of civil society organizations stage a rally in front of the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on June 13, 2023, where the 18th Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) is being held from June 13th to 16th. They denounced the ADB’s consistent promotion of corporate-led energy transition and called on the multilateral development bank to commit to an urgent phase out of support for fossil fuels as well as to end support for unsustainable carbon and resource-intensive energy projects. Photo by Jimmy A Domingo

A coalition of civil society organizations on Tuesday criticized the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for promoting a “corporate-led energy transition” and supporting fossil fuel projects.

The groups claimed ADB is focusing on techno-fixes and false solutions – fossil gas, carbon capture and storage (CCUS), waste-to-energy incinerators, and large hydro projects – which “detracts from real solutions to the climate crisis”.

The groups staged a protest rally in front of the ADB headquarters in Pasig City coinciding with the 18th Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF).

“Year in and year out, the ACEF has been a platform for discussion for anything but clean energy. Now, in the pipeline are energy projects that would produce dirty, harmful, and costly power,” said Lawyer Aaron Pedrosa of Sanlakas.

He said ADB intends to do business “at the expense of the life, health, livelihood, and environment of host communities in shameless disregard of recent climate science”.

Lawyer Avril De Torres of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development criticized the ADB’s support for fossil gas and false energy solutions. She said, “By failing to abandon gas, ADB consigns us to more years of polluting, costly power and in no way progress in breaking away from its dirty energy legacy.”

Chuck Baclagon of 350.org Asia emphasized the need to eliminate fossil fuels entirely and transition to clean, decentralized renewable sources.

To truly decarbonize, we need to eliminate fossil fuels entirely. The objective is to transform the financial system to prioritize clean, reliable, and affordable energy systems, ultimately achieving a fossil-free future that benefits both the people and our planet,” he said.

Rovik Obanil of the Freedom from Debt Coalition said the public must oppose ACEF’s fixation, which he described as “dangerous detours”.

The civil society groups highlighted specific concerns regarding the ADB’s energy sector pipeline, including a coal-to-gas switching project in Kazakhstan, and proposed partnerships with the Indian Oil Corporation for carbon capture and storage (CCUS) piloting and green hydrogen utilization.

They argued that these projects do not accelerate the phase-out of coal, oil, and gas dependency and can exacerbate water stress and harm local communities.

Mark Moreno Pascual of Recourse said ADB’s concept of ‘clean energy, involves false solutions “meant to incentivize profitable exit routes for fossil fuel corporations”.

Yobel Novian Putra of GAIA Asia Pacific called for an end to the ADB’s support for Waste-to-Energy (WtE) incinerators, highlighting the reliance on fossil fuels and the harmful impact on communities and waste workers.

The civil society groups also raised concerns about the ADB’s financing for climate adaptation and mitigation, primarily in the form of loans, which could exacerbate debt burdens for borrowing member countries.

Lidy Nacpil of APMDD stressed the need for a rapid, direct, equitable, and just transition to 100% renewable energy systems and non-debt-creating climate finance.

Ian Rivera of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice called for the ADB to break away from its corporate business model, emphasizing its failure to deliver genuine and transformative changes in the region.

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Pastoral Letter of Bishop Gerardo Alminaza for Laudato Si Week 2023 (May 21-28)

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos (center) shows his pastoral letter after reading it during a press conference on May 28, 2023. DIOCESE OF SAN CARLOS

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This year marks the eighth (8th) anniversary of the publication of the encyclical Laudato Si’. The guiding theme for this year’s celebration will be “Hope for the Earth. Hope for Humanity”.

We acknowledge the gravity of the situation and the urgent need for a collective action to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. For this reason, the DIOCESE OF SAN CARLOS through its LUNHAW ECOLOGY MINISTRY hereby declares a climate emergency in response to the growing urgency of addressing the ongoing climate crisis.

The DIOCESE OF SAN CARLOS is committed to taking immediate and significant steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the deceleration of global warming. We pledge to take these six (6) steps to accomplish this:

1. We shall establish and support the Lunhaw Ecology Ministry in all communities, including all parishes, mission stations, quasi parishes, and all Catholic and Diocesan schools within the jurisdiction of the Diocese.

2. We shall develop a ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ within the next months to set our intentions to reduce carbon emissions in all of our operations and activities in order to reduce our carbon footprint not later than 2030.

3. We shall promote and initiate SAPAT Lifestyle practices in all aspects of our work, including waste reduction, energy conservation, and sustainable transportation.

4. We shall continue to advocate for policy reforms that address prevalent environmental issues, push for climate action, and support a just transition towards a low-carbon economy by supporting the Rights of Nature Bill and other Green Bills.

5. We shall commit to continuous improvement and collaboration with other organizations and stakeholders towards campaigning and working for a balanced and healthy ecology for us and future generations.

6. We shall continue to urge and call on the government to make the same commitments and more.

We recognize that these commitments are only the beginning of our efforts to address the climate emergency, and we remain committed to continuous improvement and collaboration with other organizations and stakeholders towards a balanced and healthy ecology for us and future generations.

As the duty-bearers to these obligations and rights, the Philippine government has the primary responsibility, with the most resources and in the best position to protect Filipinos and our environment against the impact of climate change. Hence, we call on the government to declare a national state of climate emergency and get our governmental institutions to act accordingly. And provide a mainstream pro-environment and pro-people approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

We also urge our duty bearers to go beyond the minimum of climate talks and monitoring targets, and urgently uphold climate justice by halting profit-driven, ecologically-destructive projects, and empowering our communities the self-determination for climate change adaptation.

There is no better time than now to recognize the interconnectedness of all creation, and thereby it is our responsibility to acknowledge our nature’s intrinsic rights to thrive, restore, and protect itself from the very system that put us in the state of climate emergency in the first place.

DECLARE A CLIMATE EMERGENCY NOW!

PASS THE RIGHTS OF NATURE BILL NOW!

Yours Sincerely,

MOST REV. GERARDO A. ALMINAZA DD.
Bishop of San Carlos
28 May 2023

FULL TEXT: Cardinal Advincula’s address at the DLSU-Manila 195th commencement exercises

Cardinal Jose Advincula, Archbishop of Manila. ARCHDIOCESE OF MANILA

By Cardinal Jose Advincula
June 3, 2023
Manila, Philippines

MANILA— Cardinal Jose Advincula, archbishop of Manila, was conferred Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Theology, honoris causa, by the De La Salle University (DLSU) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City on June 3, 2023. Below is the full text of the cardinal’s commencement address:

Reverend Brother Bernard S. Oca, FSC, President of De La Salle University; beloved members of the Religious Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools; distinguished university officials, faculty members, staff, and honored guests; dear graduates and your proud families; fellow Lasallians:

I am deeply humbled, blessed and honored to stand before you today, and to speak to you as a fellow Lasallian. In the spirit of synodality, I humbly accept this Honorary Doctorate in the name of the People of God in the Archdiocese of Manila, whom I joyfully minister to as their shepherd and servant.

My address will have two parts: First, I will offer some thoughts on the experience of religiosity. Then, I will speak about some possible pathways towards holiness and evangelization in today’s age.

The Experience of Religiosity

Let me now speak about the experience of religiosity. Many studies in psychology, anthropology, and even biology have demonstrated that we humans are naturally “hard wired” for religiosity, transcendental realities, and supreme transcendent being.

Prior to modern science and technology, religiosity helped our ancestors face calamities, illnesses, and other threats and tasks. To manage their helplessness about experiences beyond their understanding and control, they celebrated, and related with the supernatural. Rituals, lore, temples, feasts, and superstitions gave them some semblance of assurance of skills and resources for individual safety and productivity, as well as communal survival and flourishing.

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