By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, May 3, 2023 / 02:21 am
Pope Francis said Wednesday that freedom is under threat in Europe as people choose consumerism and individualism over building families and community.
Even today, “freedom is under threat,” he said May 3. “Above all with kid gloves, by a consumerism that anesthetizes, where one is content with a little material well-being and, forgetting the past, one ‘floats’ in a present made to the measure of the individual.”
“This is the dangerous persecution of modernity that advances consumerism,” he underlined.
Pope Francis blesses a rosary after his general audience on May 3, 2023. | Daniel Ibanez/CNA
“But when the only thing that counts is thinking about oneself and doing what one likes, the roots suffocate,” he warned. “This is a problem throughout Europe, where dedicating oneself to others, community feeling, the beauty of dreaming together and creating large families are in crisis. All of Europe is in crisis.”
Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of May is for ecclesial movements and groups.
“Ecclesial movements are a gift; they are a treasure in the Church,” the Holy Father said in a video released by the Vatican on May 2.
“These movements renew the Church with their capacity for dialogue at the service of her evangelizing mission,” he said. “Each day, they rediscover in their charism new ways of showing the attractiveness and the newness of the Gospel.”
“How do they do this? Speaking different languages, they seem different, but it is their creativity that creates these differences. But always understanding themselves and making themselves understood.”
He added: “Always be on the move, responding to the impulse of the Holy Spirit to the challenges, to the changes in today’s world.”
Pope Francis encouraged members of ecclesial groups to “remain in harmony with the Church, since harmony is a gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The pope concluded his message with a prayer: “Let us pray that ecclesial movements and groups may daily rediscover their mission, an evangelizing mission, and that they place their own charisms at the service of the world’s needs.” Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.
Locals seek security inside Catholic churches and government schools in the Mindanao region
Soldiers stand guard along a road as residents walk to a mosque to pray during the Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Marawi City, in the southern island of Mindanao on May 2, 2022. (Photo: AFP)
By UCA News reporter Published: May 03, 2023 11:21 AM GMT
Hundreds of villagers rushed to take refuge in Catholic churches and government schools as the Philippine army launched air strikes on suspected hideouts of an Islamic State (IS)-linked terrorist group in the marshlands of Maguindanao province in Mindanao region.
The Archdiocese of Cotabato reported more than 200 families fled the villages of Magaslong and Datu Piang for safety as mortar shells began pounding the Dawlah Islamiya hiding places in the region on May 2.
Members of the terrorist group were spotted consolidating forces in huts in the local community of Magaslong, Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, Brigadier General Oriel Pangcog said at a press conference.
“We wasted no time, we immediately launched the attack considering the suspects were not in a village or community where civilians could be killed,” Pangcog added.
Artillery bombs were fired from 3 a.m. until 12 noon forcing the villagers to flee in a desperate bid to avoid getting caught in the crossfire or becoming human shields.
“Government forces are running after the terrorists because of the bus bombing in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat that hurt six people. They were also former members of the radical Maute group that lay a siege to Marawi in Lanao del Sur province to establish a caliphate,” Pangcog said.
“From very early in the morning, we could hear helicopters and artillery fires. Our children won’t stop crying because they could hear the explosions and gunfire from the other side of the field,” Susan Guinigundo, a mother of five in Maguindanao, told UCA News.
Guinigundo, a lector at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, in Datu Piang, abandoned her house and fled with her children.
“We didn’t know what to expect. What if those Islamic fighters use us as human shields? We need to protect ourselves by leaving our homes,” Guinigundo said.
Another family said they had requested their relatives from a nearby village to pick them up in a dump truck.
“We follow a protocol in the family. My cousin who owns the truck is supposed to help rescue us in an emergency situation like this,” Miguel Bastardo, a 46-year-old farmer told UCA News.
Cotabato archdiocesan Father Clifford Baira told UCA News that the situation on the ground was “very difficult” and 43 Catholic families were sheltered in parishes across the region.
“Most of them are with children so we are collecting milk and other items for their proper nutrition,” Baira added.
The archdiocesan Social Action Center had tried negotiating with the families and relatives of Dawlah Islamiya members in 2019 but the meetings failed due to “religious differences.”
“They think we Catholics are infidels and so need to be converted or brushed aside by violence. If this is the case, there is very little room for peace and communication,” the priest said.
Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Amorato, a spokesperson of the army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the media on May 2 that the operation was a “pre-emptive action before the group could launch another terrorist attack.”
“We made sure that there would be no collateral damage but of course, we could not prevent residents from rushing to evacuation centers because of the impact of the shelling,” he said.
Amorato said government forces were not sure of the number of terrorists killed, but said the snipers were still hiding in the marshlands.
“We cannot go near the area yet because shots are still being fired at us. Perhaps after a day or two we will conduct our own surveillance and go near the area,” Amorato added.
The Philippines is the world’s third-largest contributor to plastic waste, World Bank says
Workers clean up a beach in Zamboanga province of the Philippines in this undated photo: (Photo: Office the City Environment and Natural Resources, Zamboanga City)
By UCA News reporter Published: May 02, 2023 11:42 AM GMT
Residents in a Philippine province collected thousands of kilograms of plastics from the streets and water bodies and exchanged those for rice from the local government as part of a campaign to tackle pollution.
The pilot campaign ran in Zamboanga province in the Mindanao region throughout April and will be replicated in other provinces struggling to contain plastic contamination, said an official from the Office of City Environment and Natural Resources (OCENR) in Zamboanga City.
The agency director Marigold Aranza told UCA News on May 1 that in the past various campaigns to tackle plastic pollution failed but the latest one became successful.
Aranza said residents received one kilogram of rice for every two kilograms of plastics.
A total of 2,084 kilos of rice were traded to residents in Zamboanga over plastic bags and containers during the “Plastic for Rice” campaign, she said.
Aranza said they asked residents to deposit plastics instead of burning and throwing those into the sea.
Zamboanga City mayor John Dalipe said the program came as they found plastic pollution was on the rise in the region.
“We started in four to five barangays [local communities] along the coastlines. We noticed the increase of floating plastic containers at sea so we thought of a program on how to reduce them. A perfect plan would be to incentivize recycling,” Dalipe said in a press conference on May 1.
Dalipe said altogether a total of 4,144 kilos of plastic bags, not counting plastic containers, were freely given by locals.
“They gave more plastic containers which means the project worked. Some of them just wanted to get rid of their trash,” Dalipe added.
The OCENR Zamboanga chapter chairman Wilmer Cruz told UCA News that local villagers were first hesitant about the sustainability of the project because they did not know the organizers.
“They thought we were a scam… the idea sounds really odd – exchanging plastics for rice. It’s like exchanging trash for food. Who really does that?” he said.
“But when the local government through the Office of the City Mayor introduced us formally to the people, we slowly gained local support,” he added.
Families who participated in the program claimed they were encouraged to gather more plastics to have more kilos of rice to be brought home.
“We have become more conscious not only of what we throw but of what is in the garbage bin. We have slowly realized there is something good in the trash, so we went to other nearby villages to look for plastics so we can exchange them, too, for rice,” fisherman Rodel Enverga, 36, told UCA News.
Some residents went to grocery stores and gasoline stations to collect plastics.
“I know a grocery store here that throws a lot of plastics… even gasoline stations. So, I go there every other day to collect their trash and bring them home so I can exchange them for rice. Not only our bellies are full, but we also help the environment,” Nelly Cervantes, 41, a mother of two, told UCA News.
Cervantes claimed business owners who knew about the project later on sorted the plastics because they knew it meant food for the poor living province’s coastlines.
“They [business owners] instructed their keepers to segregate the plastic for us. Before, they all mixed them together. But now, they have learned to segregate because every kilo meant food for us,” Cervantes added.
The World Bank reported in 2021 that the Philippines is the third-largest contributor of plastic waste in the world, contributing to an estimated 0.75 million metric tons of ocean plastic every year.
“Dubbed as the ‘sachet economy,’ the Philippines is notorious for irresponsible trash haulers and open dump sites that cause the plastic to spill into the seas,” the report said.
