Your Holiness, you have always spoken in defence of the dignity of life. In Timor-Leste, which has a high birth rate, you said you felt life pulsing and exploding with so many children. In Singapore, you defended migrant workers. With the US elections coming up, what advice would you give a Catholic voter faced with a candidate who supports ending a pregnancy and another who wants to deport 11 million migrants?
Both are against life: the one that throws out migrants and the one that kills children. Both are against life. I can’t decide; I’m not American and won’t go to vote there. But let it be clear: denying migrants the ability to work and receive hospitality is a sin, a grave sin. The Old Testament speaks repeatedly of the orphan, the widow, and the stranger—migrants. These are the three that Israel must care for. Failing to care for migrants is a sin, a sin against life and humanity.
I celebrated Mass at the border, near the diocese of El Paso. There were many shoes from migrants, who ended poorly there. Today, there is a flow of migration within Central America, and many times they are treated like slaves because people take advantage of the situation. Migration is a right, and it was already present in Sacred Scripture and in the Old Testament. The stranger, the orphan, and the widow—do not forget this.
Then, abortion. Science says that at one month after conception, all the organs of a human being are present. Everything. Having an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, it’s murder. The Church is not closed-minded because it forbids abortion; the Church forbids abortion because it kills. It is murder; it is murder!
And we need to be clear about this: sending migrants away, not allowing them to grow, not letting them have life is something wrong, it is cruelty. Sending a child away from the womb of the mother is murder because there is life. And we must speak clearly about these things. “No, but however...” No “but however.” Both things are clear. The orphan, the stranger, and the widow—do not forget this.



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http://www.santacroceroma.it/en/
Today we celebrate the feast of the Hily Cross


La Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme si trova a Roma, nel Rione Esquilino, a ridosso delle Mura Aureliane e dell'Anfiteatro Castrense, tra la Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano e Porta Maggiore. La chiesa è al vertice del tridente formato da viale Carlo Felice, via di Santa Croce in Gerusale...

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-09/singapore-welcomes-pope-francis-apostolic-journey.html


Pope Francis begins the fourth and final leg of his Apostolic Journey to Asia and Oceania, as the Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore welcomes the ...

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-09/pope-francis-meeting-disabled-children-timor-leste.html


Pope Francis visits a school for children with disabilities, thanking the workers for their care and the children for allowing themselves to be cared ...

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Bishops’ Conference of Scotland Annual Inservice Meeting
Royal Scots College Salamanca Sept 2024
At their annual meeting in the Royal Scots College, Salamanca, Spain, the Bishops spent two days on “Conversations in the Spirit”. With the help of Catriona Fletcher, the director of the Ignatian Centre in Glasgow and also Fr Roger Dawson SJ, the Bishops were led in discussions regarding the method of St Ignatius of Loyola for prayer, reflection, discernment and decision making. This theme has been very much encouraged by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, as an invaluable tool for the Synodality process. The Synod will reassemble in October 20204, in Rome. It also provides different techniques to aid discernment at national, diocesan and parish levels.
During their business meeting, the Bishops welcomed newly ordained Bishop Andrew McKenzie, Bishop of Dunkeld, to his first Conference meeting. Topics discussed at the meeting included the Holy Year, evangelisation and social media, safeguarding, the Season of Creation, the introduction of the new translation of the Lectionary in Advent 2024, norms for introducing the ministries of Acolyte and lector in Scotland and seminary provision. The Conference was very grateful for the warm welcome from Fr Kilbride, rector, and Fr Chalmers, spiritual director, of the college, and to Carlos Gonzlez, the administrator and to all the staff. Bishop Keenan, vice president of the Conference, wished the College well as it prepares for a new group of seminarians on the propaedeutic year of discernment in January 2025. On the return journey to Scotland via Madrid, the Conference celebrated Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Toledo, the ancient capital and primatial see of the Church in Spain; a fitting way to celebrate the continuing presence of the Scottish Church in Spain since the 17th century and give thanks for all the priests trained in Spain who have served in Scotland.
Photo of the tabernacle of Toledo Cathedral.



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