A bishop in Turkey has said that Catholics are fearful about attending church after recent terrorist attacks, but insisted that Christians could count on government protection.
“Although we can move around freely, people are understandably afraid of coming to Mass and there’s been a drop in participation,” said Bishop Ruben Tierrablanca Gonzalez, apostolic vicar of Istanbul. “But all churches have been given police guards since a coup was attempted last July, and security officials have shown great kindness to us. Christians, Muslims and Jews are talking together and sharing the same anxieties, although the future doesn’t depend on us.”
The Mexican-born bishop spoke as a car bomb killed four outside a courthouse in İzmir, while police hunted for the perpetrator of a New Year’s Eve attack on Istanbul’s Reina nightclub, which left 39 dead. ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting.
In an interview with the Catholic News Service, Bishop Tierrablanca said uncertainties had been worsened by the extension of a state of emergency imposed by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after last July’s coup attempt, but said he believed this was “not a time to criticise government failures”.
“It’s a difficult moment, and all we can really do is speak out together against terror and in favour of peace; this, rather than any political statement, has to be our message to the Turkish authorities,” the bishop said.
Earlier, Archbishop Lorenzo Piretto of İzmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, said “many Muslims” had attended a New Year’s Mass in Ephesus. The Mass was given police protection, and the archbishop said he believed the Erdoğan government had “shown concern for Christian minorities”.
Church in Kerala sets up a group for transgender people
The church in India’s Kerala state has formed a group of priests, nuns and lay people to respond to the pastoral needs of transgender people.
The group was formed under the aegis of Pro-Life Support, a movement within the Church. Fr Paul Madassey, in charge of Pro-Life Support for Kerala’s bishops’ council, noted that Pope Francis had talked about the need to give “pastoral care to the LGBT community”. He said: “The whole Church has a big role to play.
“There is an active sex racket from north India eyeing transgender people in Kerala. They are trying to exploit the discriminatory situation they face,” Fr Madassey told ucanews.com.
India has an estimated 500,000 transgender people. They are often ostracised from their families and end up on the street begging for money or exploited in the sex trade.
In December, Sisters of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel offered their buildings to form a school for dropouts among transgender people, considered the first of its kind in India. Earlier this year, Caritas India announced a programme to fight discrimination against transgender people.
Cancer victim who met Francis dies
A terminally ill US Army sergeant who asked Pope Francis for a blessing in St Peter’s Square has died aged 48.
Cheryl Tobin, who had a rare form of cancer, died in her sleep. Her husband Jim said in an email to supporters: “I know she is watching us from above. She is now pain-free and in a better place.”
After meeting the Pope last year she said she had been “overwhelmed with emotion”.
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