3.5 million Kenyans may starve

LONDON (CNS) — Catholic aid agencies in Britain and the United States say as many as 3.5 million Kenyans face a severe food emergency because of several seasons of drought. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said millions of Kenyans could starve to death unless emergency food supplies are delivered soon. Dominic Stolarow, a CAFOD humanitarian officer who has been visiting the worst-affected areas in the northeastern part of the country, said Kenya is also facing its most severe drought since 1971. "Cattle die first in times of drought as they can only go for up to three days without water," he said March 7.

Stolen religious art

LIMA, Peru (CNS) — In an airy workshop on a top floor of Lima’s Museum of the Nation, art restoration experts touch up plump cherubs on a 450-year-old bas-relief altarpiece. The workshop is the next to last stop on an odyssey that has seen the masterpiece smuggled out of a tiny chapel in the southern highlands of Peru and into the United States, where it was seized from an art dealer in Santa Fe, N.M. Once some minor damage is repaired, the 12-foot-high altarpiece will be displayed briefly at the museum before being returned to the chapel in Challapampa, in the prelature of Juli in the southern highlands known as the Altiplano. The Challapampa case is part of a thriving international trade in stolen art works, particularly colonial religious art from the Andean countries of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Few pieces are ever recovered.

Pray during life’s dark moments

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During life’s dark moments, caused by either physical suffering or mental or emotional anguish, Jesus teaches the faithful to pray to God, said the preacher of the papal household. When Jesus was in the Garden of Olives in Gethsemane, his soul was tormented by the prospect of his imminent death, said Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa. Jesus sat and prayed to God and implored him to "remove this cup from me; yet not my will but thine be done," the preacher said in a Lenten reflection offered March 17 to Pope Benedict XVI and senior Vatican officials. "Human life is sprinkled with many brief nights of Gethsemane" which might be caused by experiencing a health scare, a misunderstanding, others’ indifference, fear of the consequences of one’s mistakes, or even a loss of faith in God, he said. "Jesus teaches us that the first thing to do in these cases is to turn to God with prayer," said the Capuchin. But, he asked, what if one has already prayed to God without success? "Keep on praying ... with greater intensity," he said.

Vatican-Israeli relations

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Italian Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo is a veteran diplomat who was instrumental in helping establish diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel. He also has served as apostolic nuncio in numerous countries that were often hotbeds of political or social unrest. As a sign of appreciation for his lifelong diplomatic service to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI will elevate him to cardinal March 24. At age 80, he will be one of three new cardinals too old to vote in a conclave. Currently serving as archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Turin-born cardinal-designate was the Vatican’s first nuncio to Israel when diplomatic relations were established in 1994.

Talks between gangs, government

GUATEMALA CITY (CNS) — Honduran Auxiliary Bishop Romulo Emiliani Sanchez of San Pedro Sula said he is prepared to mediate pending negotiations between the Honduran government and youth gang leaders. "The gang members want me to mediate, and I’m completely willing to do that," Bishop Emiliani told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview. Bishop Emiliani said it was a "good sign" that Gen. Alvaro Romero, the Honduran security minister, proposed the dialogue with the gangs. The bishop said the new government of President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who took office in late January, has taken a "more humanistic" approach to the gang problem in Honduras than its predecessor. The previous administration of President Ricardo Maduro attempted to resolve the country’s gang problem by making it a crime to belong to a gang and arresting thousands of youths for sporting gang tattoos. Bishop Emiliani said he did not think this approach was effective.

A female voice

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) — To mark International Women’s Day March 8, the Colombian bishops launched a special appeal to end slavelike working conditions for women and guarantee them equal opportunities and equal pay for equal responsibilities. And the official appeal in the newsletter of the Colombian bishops was written by a woman, Luz Medina Garavito. For the past six months, she has managed the bishops’ press office and given it a female touch. "I feel honored by the confidence and the friendship the bishops showed me," said Medina.

Forgiveness urged after incident

JERUSALEM (CNS) — The "custos" of the Holy Land said Christians must forgive the family that set off firecrackers inside the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel. "Nothing can justify what they did ... they are unfortunate individuals ... but what we need (is) to look forward, and we as Christians have to forgive," Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa said in a brief news conference. "This hurts us, but we are not holding a grudge. As religious Christians we must deliver a message of peace." Father Pizzaballa, who is in charge of Christian sites in the Holy Land, spoke and issued a statement March 6 after a brief meeting with Haim and Violet Habibi and their 20-year-old daughter, Odelia, who were remanded into police custody March 3 while charges were brought against them.

Pope blesses Ukrainian Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI prayed that Mary and the communist-era martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church would strengthen Ukrainians in their faith and their commitment to Christian unity. The pope sent a letter to Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, who was leading commemorations of the 1946 "pseudo-synod" manipulated by the Soviet authorities to unite the Eastern-rite Catholic Church with the Russian Orthodox Church. The text of the pope’s letter was released March 16 at the Vatican. Soviet authorities had arrested all the Ukrainian Catholic bishops before the synod began. "Despite unspeakable trials and suffering, divine providence did not permit the disappearance of a community that for centuries was considered a legitimate and vivacious part of the identity of the Ukrainian people," the pope said.

‘Reclaim your city’

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) — Each Sunday, more and more parishioners return to St. Peter Claver Parish in New Orleans for Masses celebrated in the school cafeteria while the flood-damaged church is being repaired. On March 5, the first Sunday in Lent, the cafeteria was overflowing with churchgoers who started filling the seats an hour before Mass. Parishioners also sat on chairs on the stage, or stood in the back and in doorways. Prior to Mass, the atmosphere in the hall was akin to a family reunion as people greeted those they hadn’t seen in months. Edmundite Father Michael Jacques, pastor of St. Peter Claver, said in his homily, "Folks every Sunday are coming back. They lost everything, but they want to be at Mass."

Skier, family stop in Rome

ROME (CNS) — Olympic cross-country skier Rebecca Dussault left Turin’s Alpine peaks to head to Rome’s baroque basilicas, taking a weeklong vacation and meeting the pope before heading home to Colorado. The devout Catholic family’s week in Rome turned out to be a much-needed, relaxing vacation and memorable way to top off what Dussault called "a climactic spiritual journey" during her first Olympics. Dussault said although she did not win any medals in Turin she grabbed the attention of world media because "people were so curious" about her story: how she had the name of her favorite saint-in-the-making, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, on her skis and how she trained and competed all over the U.S. and Europe with her husband and son by her side.

Cloning response

WASHINGTON (CNS) — As some state legislatures moved toward approval of funding for embryonic stem-cell research or human cloning, Catholics in Missouri were working to derail efforts to protect the practices in the state constitution. Legislators in Maryland and New Jersey approved measures in March that could fund research using embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells, while several lawmakers in Missouri joined a statewide coalition working to fight a possible November ballot initiative that would constitutionally protect human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research in the state. In Georgia, legislators were considering competing bills on stem-cell research. One would permit funding of adult stem-cell research only, while the other would designate funds for both adult and embryonic stem-cell research. Cloning- or stem-cell-related proposals also were pending in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Washington state and West Virginia.