They are hoping Pope Francis will discuss such issues when he meets President Barack Obama and addresses the US Congress in September.

The issues raised include immigration reform, economic injustice for low-wage workers, pervasive racism in US institutions and society, and mass incarceration.

One union leader said people in the United States are "as divided as we've ever been by race, by economics, by politics, by everything".

Pope Francis is seen as a force for reconciliation and reform.

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Last week, Mr Foley's parents John and Diane Foley told media of their gratitude for the Pope's concern, expressed during a long phone call on August 21.

"Pope Francis was so dear because he is grieving himself, having just lost three members of his family and (with) his nephew critically ill," Mrs Foley said on NBC's "Today" show.

"Here in the midst of his tremendous grief, he took the time to call.

"Our whole family was there, one of our beloved priest friends . . . was there, my brother-in-law spoke in Spanish to him. He was just so kind."

The wife and two young children of the Pope's nephew, 35-year-old Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, were killed in a car crash on August 19 in Argentina.

Bergoglio was critically injured.

John Foley said on the "Today" show that "we felt very comforted and supported" that the Pope offered his personal prayer.

On August 21, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told the press that Pope Francis called to console the family for their loss and assure them of his prayers.

Passionist Fr Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, told reporters the next day that the conversation was "long and intense".

Pope Francis was particularly "struck by the faith" of the late journalist's mother, the spokesman said.

The Pope spoke with the parents through an interpreter.

"Pope Francis, like Jesus, loves, like Jim. He understood Jim's heart," Diane Foley said afterwards, referring to her son, who "was able to draw strength from prayer" during his capture.

She said love and compassion had drawn her son to cover the plight of the people in Syria, which has been embroiled in a violent conflict for the past several years.

The Foleys also said they were establishing a fund in their son's name and said they would continue to call for action from the international community.

"We must stand together," Diane Foley said.

"Good and love and all that is free in the world must be together to fight the evil and the hatred."

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Reuters
• Image: Scottish Catholic Observer

They discussed international conflicts and the importance of humanitarian and international law, as well as issues of poverty and injustice.

According to the Vatican, "the parties discussed questions of particular relevance for the Church, such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection".

The Vatican described the meeting as "cordial".

In a separate meeting, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, raised the Church's concern over the president's healthcare legislation that requires insurers and employers to cover contraceptive costs in their insurance plans.

It has drawn criticism from the American bishops, who have objected on the grounds of conscience and freedom of religion.

"Most religious organisations are entirely exempt," Mr Obama told media after the meetings.

He promised further dialogue with the US bishops on the issue.

At least 43 Catholic organisations have filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration seeking the exemption that the President claims they are entitled to receive.

The US bishops have pressed for broader exemptions.

Pope Francis and Mr Obama spoke about challenges to world peace and justice for the poor and areas of shared concern such as immigration reform and a commitment to ending human trafficking.

After their meeting Francis gave Mr Obama two medallions and a copy of his exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

According to media, the Pope handed him the book saying in Spanish: "This, for when you are bored".

Mr Obama replied: "You know, I actually will probably read this when I'm in the Oval Office [of the White House in Washington DC], when I am deeply frustrated, and I am sure it will give me strength and will calm me down."

"I hope," Pope Francis said.

This was the 28th encounter between a US president and a pope since Benedict XV received Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• Boston Globe
• New American
• Vatican Information Service
• Fox News
• Image: ABC News

On Saturday, President Obama expressed his desire to "hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons." "Holding accountable," as so many journalists have rightly identified, is loosely-veiled language that disguises the purpose of an American-led military intervention: punishment.

The use of military force as punishment - in this case, for the alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian rebel forces - was understood as a just use of force by one of the founding figures of western just war theory, St. Augustine of Hippo. Writing in the early-fifth century, Augustine believed that "just wars as defined as those which avenge injuries." Indeed, the view of punishment as a justification for war continued to be given salience in the Catholic moral theology, from which modern just war theories emerged, up until the seventeenth century, where it features in the writings of Hugo Grotius. The justification of these moral theologians' insistence on punishment as a legitimate use of force emerged from:

• the lack of a sovereign authority to pronounce on disputes between states and the need for states to defend themselves; and
• the divine authority of a sovereign to serve as, in the words of thirteenth-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, "God's minister" in punishing sin.

The first claim explains why states can use force while private citizens cannot. When an individual is wronged by another, "he can seek for redress of his rights from the tribunal of his superior," as Aquinas put it. However, prior to the emergence of international law, if a state sought redress for alleged wrongdoings by another state, it had no authority to turn to for justice. Thus, it had license to pursue its claim directly, exercising its own force in an effort to, in a sense, install itself as a sovereign who could pass (just) judgement over its enemy's wrongdoing. The second claim involves not only the existence of a deity, but a deity who might sanction or even directly command wars in some situations. Augustine held the wars of Moses against the Egyptians as an archetypal just war, for in obeying God's command Moses "showed not ferocity but obedience." Continue reading

Sources

• Religion & Ethics, ABC
• Image: PRI's The World

Speaking in Belfast to a crowd composed mainly of children, Obama said "segregated schools" block the path to full reconciliation.

"If towns remain divided, if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can't see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden, that encourages division, it discourages co-operation," he said.

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Hailing Planned Parenthood's work, the President criticized "those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s".

Obama, the first sitting president to address the abortion-rights group in person, concluded his remarks to Planned Parenthood by saying: "God bless you."

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One recalls in rapid-fire bursts how Father Emil Kapaun sneaked out of the barracks at night, risking his life to bring back morsels of food for his fellow prisoners.

Another remembers seeing the young American priest use a rock and a piece of metal to form a pan and then collect water to wash the hands and faces of the wounded.

A third chokes up when he tells of being injured and having an enemy soldier standing over him, rifle pointed; Kapaun walked up, pushed aside the muzzle and carried off the wounded man.

The military chaplain did not carry a gun or grenades. He did not storm hills or take beaches. He picked lice off of men too weak to do it themselves and stole grain from the Korean and Chinese guards who took the American soldiers as prisoners of war in late 1950.

Kapaun did not survive the prisoner camps, dying in Pyoktong in 1951. The man originally from tiny Pilsen, Kan., has been declared a "servant of God" — often a precursor to sainthood in the Catholic Church. And on Thursday, President Obama will posthumously award Kapaun a Medal of Honor. On hand will be Mike Dowe, 85; Robert Wood, 86; and Herbert Miller, 86.

"People had lost a great deal of their civility," Wood says of life in the POW compound. "We were stacking the bodies outside where they were frozen like cordwood and here is this one man — in all of this chaos — who has kept . . . principles."

Kapaun (pronounced Ka-PAWN) was so beloved that U.S. prisoners of war who knew him began calling for him to receive the military's highest honor on the day they were released from their North Korean POW camp 60 years ago.

"The first prisoners out of that camp are carrying a wooden crucifix, and they tell the story at length," says Roy Wenzel, a reporter at the Wichita Eagle who wrote an eight-part series and a book about Kapaun. "He was internationally famous and made the front page of newspapers." Continue reading

Sources

• The Washington Post
• Image: ABC News

"The Catholic bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meeting the difficult challenges that face America," wrote Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

"In particular, we pray that you will exercise your office to pursue the common good, especially in care of the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, and the immigrant."

Over the past year the bishops have opposed the Obama administration particularly over a Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring coverage of contraceptive services in health insurance plans. They portrayed this as infringing the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

The importance of religious freedom was also emphasised in Pope Benedict XVI's message to President Obama. The Pope also said he hoped the American founding ideals of freedom and justice would hold a prominent place in the nation's future.

According to exit polls conducted by CNN, 50 per cent of voters who identified themselves as Catholics voted for Obama, and 48 per cent for his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Protestant voters were heavily in favour of Romney, with 57 per cent choosing the Republican and only 42 per cent voting for Obama.

Among voters who said they had no religious affiliation, Obama was the overwhelming favorite, with a 70-26 per cent advantage.

The chairman of the Catholic bishops' subcommittee to defend marriage, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, said election day was a disappointing one for marriage.

Voters in Maine and Maryland approved measures legalising same-sex marriage, and a similar measure appeared likely to pass in Washington state. Minnesotan voters rejected an amendment to define marriage as only between a man and woman.

Maryland and Washington voters upheld laws permitting same-sex marriage that were passed earlier in the year.

Sources:

National Catholic Register

CNN

National Catholic Reporter

Catholic News Service

Image: Straits Times

For both of them Tuesday night, their opposing positions came down to one word: Responsibility.

A member of the audience, Barry, asked the same question of both candidates. "What do you think is the biggest misrepresentation that the American people have about you as a man or a candidate?" Read more

Sources

• Sally Quinn in The Washington Post
• Image: The Guardian

Sally Quinn is a Washington Post journalist and author of several books.

U.S. District Judge John Kane in Denver temporarily blocked the government from the enforcing the birth control mandate against the owners of a firm manufacturing heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment.

The ruling only affects this plaintiff but opens the door for any company to seek relief on religious grounds.

Continue reading

That this view was swept away in the deluge of sad commentary on Friday was surprising to me, an outsider.

By this standard James Holmes was not a young man armed more heavily than the soldiers the US fields in Afghanistan, but an event, an act of god, to be weathered rather than countered. Read more

Sources

• Nick O'Malley in The Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: International Business Times

Nick O'Malley is the US correspondent of The Sydney Morning Herald

The court did not address the religious liberty issue regarding a Health and Human Services mandate that requires religious employers to pay for contraception, abortifacients and sterilisation despite their religious objections.

Twenty-three separate lawsuits are continuing against the law. They involve 56 individual plaintiffs, mostly Catholic, include bishops, universities and news organisations.

"The decision of the Supreme Court neither diminishes the moral imperative to ensure decent health care for all, nor eliminates the need to correct [its] fundamental flaws," said the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"We therefore continue to urge Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, legislation to fix those flaws."

The bishops have called the health care law a major violation of religious liberty because of the contraception mandate. They also oppose the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions.

The bishops have made opposition to the HHS mandate and the White House's view of religious liberty the centrepiece of one of their biggest campaigns in a generation. It has included a two-week campaign of rallies, mega-Masses and concerts called Fortnight for Freedom.

"This thing is not over for sure," said Rick Garnett, a Notre Dame Law School professor who has advised the bishops on their religious liberty campaign.

He said the Catholic Church has long supported the general concept of universal health care, but the HHS mandate, which was announced by the White House after the law was passed, was like a "poison pill" for many Catholics.

Among others opposing the mandate, the Christian Legal Society called it "the first exception to our national commitment to protect religious conscience in the abortion context — a tradition that has been bipartisan for 40 years".

Sources:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Christian Post

Washington Post

Image: Bet.com

The "Nuns on the Bus" are focusing on budget cuts proposed by House of Representatives budget committee chair Paul Ryan, a Catholic who has in the past expressed enthusiasm for the views of libertarian author Ayn Rand.

The nuns, a rotating crew of 14 sisters sponsored by the Catholic social justice lobby group Network, say Ryan's plans to cut spending on Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program would harm "people who are already suffering".

In their big, colourful bus, the nuns are attracting rock-band attention, with video crews from CNN, PBS, CBS and documentary makers following their path.

Since the bus tour dates overlap the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' "Fortnight of Freedom", some observers suggest the nuns aim to divert attention from the bishops' campaign.

This campaign, targeted mainly at President Obama's decision requiring most employers to provide health insurance that includes birth control, has been organised around liturgical feasts for martyred defenders of the faith.

It includes prayer vigils, rallies and other events to draw attention to what the bishops see as government attacks on religious freedom.

Independent advocacy groups such as CatholicVote.org and Women Speak For Themselves, have joined the effort with TV ads, videos, Facebook appeals and petition drives.

Sources

• CNS
• Deseret News
• Washington Post
• Nuns on the Bus
• Image: Nuns on the Bus

One of the contested policy issues is Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA). Many of the US Catholic Bishops have been critical of this law on the ground that it might contribute to even more abortions in the US.

The Catholic religious orders which conduct health facilities are broadly supportive of the law because it would extend basic healthcare to millions of Americans otherwise deprived a basic right. The US Supreme Court is yet to determine the constitutionality of the law.

On 15 February 2012, the US Administration published draft regulations as a follow-up to the ACA. The legislative regime mandates three actions: each person must take out insurance; each employer must provide health cover; and every health plan must include preventive health measures including access to contraception, sterilisation and abortifacients.

Preventive health measures are mandated so as to reduce long term the overall costs of health care. Religious employers who have religious objections to such preventive health measures would be exempt.

On 14 March, the Administrative Committee of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops declared the exemption for religious employers was too restrictive in part because it would apply only to employers who hired and served those primarily of their own faith. But what about Church institutions responding to the gospel imperative to provide health, education or welfare to persons of all faiths and none, employing persons of all faiths and none?

The bishops said, 'We will continue to accept any invitation to dialogue with the Executive Branch to protect the religious freedom that is rightly ours.'

Feeling the heat from the bishops, the Obama Administration a week later issued 'a request for comments in advance of proposed rulemaking on the potential means of accommodating such organisations while ensuring contraceptive coverage for plan participants and beneficiaries covered under their plans (or, in the case of student health insurance plans, student enrollees and their dependents) without cost sharing'. Continue reading

Sources

• Fr Frank Brennan in Eureka Street
• Image: Homepage Daily

When the U.S. bishops came out so strongly against the new government rules regarding contraceptives and health insurance, they said the issue was one of religious freedom.

And I believed them.

When the bishops argued that it was not the administration's place to decide whether Catholic hospitals or colleges fit the "faith mission" exception to the insurance rule, it made sense to me.

And I believed them.

I thought the bishops were trying to make an argument apart from the politics of the moment, separate from the polarizing stances they have so often taken in the last few years, stances that had placed them in league with odd allies from the far right.

I feel like an idiot.

After the Obama administration announced adjustments to the contraception rule that would remove the church from directly having to pay for contraceptive coverage in health plans, many Catholics responded with relief, including Catholic Charities and the Catholic Health Association. The bishops' objections seemed understood, and the public at large was not denied access.

But the bishops were not to be denied a wedge issue. After initially sounding open to the compromise, they soon came down firmly against something that was just not good enough. The bishops now say they will throw their support behind a Republican-sponsored bill in Congress that would exempt any individual insurance provider or purchaser from any mandate that doesn't mesh with their religious beliefs. It is yet another not-so-subtle attempt to essentially gut the health care reform law.

And now the story has entered into absurdity, a land often explored when the bishops find themselves all puffed up on matters of sexuality and gender. Read more

Sources

• Joe Ferullo in the National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Reuters

The slogan picks up on a long-standing evangelical Christian theme: the idea that government policies on a broad range of issues - including abortion and contraception, same-sex marriage, sex education in schools, and even anti-bullying programs that defend gay students - amount to un-American religious coercion. With the bishops' new "liberty'' initiative, the political partnership between the Catholic hierarchy and the largely Protestant religious right is more solid than ever.

It is no surprise that today's Catholic bishops are lining up with Republican aspirants for the White House. After all, these bishops were vociferous in objecting to President Obama's being honored at the University of Notre Dame in 2009; they worked against Obama's signature health care reform in 2010 (and might have succeeded if the Catholic Health Association's endorsement had not given swing-vote Catholic lawmakers cover to support the bill). In September, key bishops denounced federal regulations about the provision of contraception as "a radically new and unprecedented attack on religious freedom.'' This month, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the conference president, warned the Obama administration that its refusal to stand behind the Defense of Marriage Act would "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions.''

But Catholic participation in this extremist counter-culture is uniquely risky. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest nongovernmental organization in the world, carrying out tremendous works of charity and justice across the globe. In the United States, church agencies like Catholic Charities, and institutions like hospitals and schools, are essential to the common good. A narrowly politicized American episcopate can gravely weaken the integrity of such outreach. Read more

• Source: The Boston Globe
• Image: Canterbury Tales

Aretha Franklin, poet Nikki Giovanni and President Barack Obama were among those who attended the more than four-hour ceremony. King's children and other leaders spoke before the president, invoking his "I Have a Dream" speech and calling upon a new generation to help fully realize that dream.

The crowd, some of whom came out as early as 5am (10am Sunday, NZ time), included people of all ages and races. Some women wore large Sunday hats for the occasion.

The president arrived late morning with his wife and two daughters, which drew loud cheers from those watching his entrance on large screens.

Cherry Hawkins travelled from Houston with her cousins and arrived at 6am to be part of the dedication. They postponed earlier plans to attend the August dedication, which was postponed because of Hurricane Irene.

"I wanted to do this for my kids and grandkids," Hawkins said. She expects the memorial will be in their history books someday. "They can say, 'Oh, my granny did that.'"

Hawkins, her cousin DeAndrea Cooper and Cooper's daughter Brittani Jones, 23, visited the King Memorial on Saturday after joining a march with the Rev. Al Sharpton to urge Congress to pass a jobs bill.

"You see his face in the memorial, and it's kind of an emotional moment," Cooper said. "It's beautiful. They did a wonderful job."

Actress Cicely Tyson said her contemporaries are passing the torch to a new generation and passed the microphone to 12-year-old Amandla Stenberg. The girl recalled learning about the civil rights movement in school and named four young girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala.

"As Dr King said at their funeral, 'They didn't live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives,'" Amandla said. "I plan to live a meaningful life, too."

About 1.5 million people are estimated to have visited the 10-metre-tall statue of King and the granite walls where 14 of his quotations are carved in stone. The memorial is the first on the National Mall honouring a black leader.

• Read more: www.stuff.co.nz
• Image: Bakersfield Now