JUNE 2010 ISSUE
Victims and heroines
All around the developing world, women and girls are the pillars of their families and communities. As part of their daily tasks, they cook, clean, farm, collect wood and fetch water for their households; and provide them with health and hygienic care. Because of these roles, they are particularly vulnerable. In situations of conflict, they become more and more the main targets – through sexual assault and common violence. The importance of their role is their weakness. For the contenders, to humiliate and control them is a way to demoralize the “enemy.” Sometimes, they are also made pawns in a sadistic game of ethnic cleansing. Ironically, when we look closely at war zones and violent prone areas, we’ll see that most of the peacemakers, even in the remotest and harshest places, are also women. The Catholic nuns, who risk their own lives to help the victims and alleviate their burden, are among them. The courage and resilience they show is a lesson in humanity.
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| TREASURES OF SECRET ARCHIVES REVEALED |
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A 13th-century letter from Genghis Khan's grandson demanding homage from Pope Innocent IV, and another from 20th century Japanese Emperor Hirohito are among a collection of documents from the Vatican's secret archives that have been published for the first time. The Holy See's archives contain scrolls, parchments and leather-bound volumes with correspondence dating back more than a thousand years.
High-quality reproductions of 105 documents, 19 of which have never been seen before in public, have been published in a book. The Vatican Secret Archives features a papal letter to Hitler, an entreaty to Rome written on birch bark by a tribe of North American Indians, and a plea from Mary Queen of Scots. The book documents the Catholic Church's often hostile dealings with the world of science and of arts, including documents from the heresy trial against Galileo and correspondence exchanged with Erasmus, Voltaire and Mozart. In a letter dated 1246 from Grand Khan Güyük to Pope Innocent IV, Genghis Khan's grandson demands that the pontiff travel to central Asia in person - with all of his "kings" in tow - to "pay service and homage to us" as an act of "submission," threatening that otherwise "you shall be our enemy." The book also includes letters written to Hitler by Pope Pius XI in 1934 and one received by his controversial successor, Pius XII, from Japan's Emperor Hirohito. "An aura of mystery has always surrounded this important cultural institution of the Holy See due to the allusions to inaccessible secrets," Cardinal Raffaele Farina, a Vatican archivist, writes in the preface to the book, which was produced by a Belgian publisher. Although scholars have had access to the archives since 1881, they remain closed to the public.
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World Mission receives again a Catholic Mass Media trophy
World Mission (WM) was awarded another trophy by the prestigious Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) in its 31st edition. The magazine was distinguished as the Best Local Community/Parish Newspaper for the third consecutive year.
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
""Man is made to love; his life is fully realized only if he lives in love."
"We, Christians, even lately, have often avoided the word 'penance.' Now, under the eyes of the world that speaks of our sins, we see that doing penance is grace and we see how penance is necessary."
"The Pope and I are united on the relationship between reason and science, the necessity of dialogue between religions and the need for worldwide ethics, even if my hopes of a reformist course have not been fulfilled."
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- Moises-Kenya : hello everybody... i am very proud of WMM for very up-to-date, meaningful and heart-moving articles, missionary news and reflections... excellent! thanks to MCCJ-Asia & to all Friends of the Missions! More power & blessings from God...
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