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President Biden’s visit comes right after he wrapped up a summit with NATO leaders. World leaders unveiled their next phase to hit back at Moscow. Fresh sanctions are on the way as they aim to tighten the economic prowl on the Kremlin forces.
The NATO allies are also sending Ukraine new military assistance. On Europe’s eastern flank, NATO plans to bolster its own defense.
During the summit, President Biden announced that the U.S. will give an additional $1 billion dollars in humanitarian aid and open the U.S. border to refugees.
Ukraine’s president was thankful for the help, but also said he needed far more from the Western allies.
“One percent of all your planes,” said Volodymr Zelenskyy, “one percent of all your tanks.”
Calls Worldwide Prayer ‘Remarkable’ Moment for Catholic Church
By Currents News Staff and Paula Katinas
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Darryl Bolisay normally attends Mass at St. Fidelis in College Point, Queens, but he made a special trip to the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn on Friday morning because he wanted to be a part of history.
Bishop Robert Brennan came to the cathedral to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In doing so, he was heeding a call from Pope Francis to perform the consecration in the hope of bringing peace to the two warring nations.
Bolisay wanted to be there to witness the consecration.
“It’s historic,” he said. “I feel that we will see God’s blessing visit down on us today.”
Bolisay said the fact that Catholics around the world were pausing on the same day, many in the same hour, to pray for peace sent a powerful signal.
The Holy Father asked the world’s Catholic bishops to join him in consecrating Russia and Ukraine and set the date for the Act of Consecration for Friday, March 25.
In the Catholic Church, to consecrate something is to make it sacred or holy. In the case of the consecration of Ukraine and Russia, the Church is appealing to God, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to answer prayers for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Bishop Brennan performed the consecration at precisely noon, the exact time the pope was doing the same at the Vatican.
He marveled at the sense of unity Catholics were feeling.
“It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it,” he said after the Mass. “I think it’s a brilliant stroke on Pope Francis’s part — the whole world joining in at this particular moment. At this moment, all around the world, Catholics are united in a single prayer, a single intention.”
Bishop Brennan performed the consecration after leading a Holy Hour of Prayer for Peace. The consecration, which began, “Oh Mary, Mother of God, and our mother, in this time of trial we turn to you,” also included the passage, “Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.”
The consecration took place as war continues to rage in Ukraine.
“I hope that hearts and minds will indeed be converted,” Bishop Brennan said. “We’d like to see an end to the violence and the aggression. I’d love to see that happen pretty quickly.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. The invasion has upended the lives of millions. Approximately 3.7 million people have fled the country since the start of the war and 6.5 million people who remained in Ukraine have been displaced from their homes.
According to NATO officials, between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops have been killed. So far, Ukraine has not released much information on its military losses, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated that approximately 1,300 of his country’s troops have been killed.
Friday’s event also gave Catholics the opportunity to consecrate their own lives to God, according to Bishop Brennan, who invoked St. Francis of Assisi.
“A very big part of our Catholic spirituality is that when we pray for peace, we become instruments of God’s peace,” he said. “That has a concrete effect.”
Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Friday, March 25. The solemnity will take place at St. Peter’s Basilica. At the same time, priests and bishops from all over the world will be joining him in prayer performing their own consecrations.
Bishop Brennan is requesting that the faithful of the diocese also join in prayer. Starting at 8 a.m., on NET-TV, from the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, Mass will be celebrated in English for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, followed with a prayer for the consecration.
Catholic leaders are coming together in New York City pledging to help their brothers and sisters in Ukraine with donations of more than $50 million dollars.
It’s almost time for the consecration of Russia and Ukraine. Bishop Brennan tells how the Diocese of Brooklyn is taking part.
Everyone always wants to know how people make it to 100– we have plenty of answers for you.
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Texas Catholic bishops joined a broad coalition of faith leaders, Latino organizations, anti-domestic violence groups and the Innocence Project in urging state leaders March 22 to commute the death sentence of Melissa Lucio and conduct a meaningful review of her case.
The groups, along with Lucio’s children, filed letters with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz.
Lucio, a 53-year-old Catholic mother of 14 and a grandmother, was given the death sentence for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, that Lucio has maintained was due to her daughter’s accidental fall down a stairway. Her execution is scheduled for April 27.
An application for clemency submitted March 22 by her attorneys includes new evidence the jury never heard that shows Lucio was a victim of sexual abuse and domestic violence and that her daughter died of medical complications after the fall.
It also says her confession was just repeating what officers said during her five-hour interrogation and that she asserted her innocence more than 100 times during that interrogation. It also includes statements from four jurors who said they have grave concerns about evidence withheld from them at the trial.
The Texas bishops, in their March 22 letter, said they “continue to pray for everyone who has been touched by the tragic loss of Mariah’s life, especially for the suffering Ms. Lucio and her family have endured.”
“We are also fervently praying that clemency be granted to Ms. Lucio, not solely because of the church’s opposition to the death penalty and the inherent dignity of every human life, but also due to the mitigating circumstances surrounding her case.”
The bishops said: “Justice was not served by Ms. Lucio’s conviction and will not by served by her execution, considering her history as a victim of sexual abuse and domestic violence, her troubling interrogation by law enforcement and the unanswered questions regarding the manner of her daughter Mariah’s death.”
They also noted Lucio is a faithful Catholic on death row in the Diocese of Austin and that her spiritual adviser, Deacon Ronnie Lastovica, said she is helping lead others in their faith.
The bishops’ letter also pointed out the case of Thomas Whitaker, who was granted clemency by the Texas governor in 2018.
“We urge you to follow that precedent, especially when there is a strong case for (Lucio’s) innocence,” they said.
The Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville is seen in this 2014 file photo.
The bishops also stressed that Pope Francis’ call to abolish the death penalty “reminds us justice happens, not through punishment and vengeance, but out of a sense of responsibility beyond the present moment. Conversion, repentance and the desire to start life anew cannot be denied anyone, including those guilty of the most serious crimes.”
“We beseech you to commute her death sentence and conduct a meaningful review of her case to enable this family to continue the hard work of restorative justice and healing,” they added.
In late February, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops similarly pleaded with the governor and the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Lucio’s death sentence.
The conference, which is the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, agreed with a statement issued by Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, where the Lucio family lives.
“One tragedy is not somehow made better by killing someone else. Justice is not suddenly restored because another person dies,” Bishop Flores said. He added that “executing Melissa will not bring peace to her surviving children, it will only bring more pain and suffering.”
The Brownsville bishop said Lucio’s case “illustrates yet again why the Texas death penalty process cannot be trusted to provide justice to all. It is a deeply flawed process rife with human error and inconsistency.”
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, similarly urged state officials in February to grant Lucio clemency, saying: “To do anything else would be an irreversible injustice.”
In a court appeal filed in February, Vanessa Potkin, an attorney for Lucio and director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, said: “There is just too much doubt. We cannot move forward in this case and risk executing an innocent woman.”
Attorneys for Lucio have sought relief multiple times to no avail. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit said Lucio had been denied her right to fully defend herself but that procedural rules barred the court from overturning her conviction. The Supreme Court has declined to take up Lucio’s case.
The Innocence Project, in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, questioned the manner of interrogation used on Lucio about her daughter’s death. “Interrogation may sometimes psychologically pressure even innocent people to confess to crimes they did not commit,” it said, adding that the risk of a false confession is “heightened when the interrogated suspect is a battered woman.”
If Texas goes through with her execution, Lucio will be the sixth woman to be executed in the United States in the past 10 years and the only Latina to be sentenced to death in Texas. Her case was the subject of a documentary: “The State of Texas vs. Melissa.”
Ten U.S. airlines and cargo carriers have a request for the Biden Administration: They want to get rid of mask mandates on flights and test requirements for international travel. Some European countries are starting to do that.
But not everyone thinks that’s a good idea.
“Those countries are lifting restrictions brutally from too much to too few,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, Regional Director for Europe at the World Health Organization.
The Federal Transportation mask mandate ends April 18, barring another extension. The White House says it’s consulting the CDC about lifting it earlier. That agency reports cases are trending down.
It’s also warning the new Omicron subvariant is more transmissible than the original version.
“Our vaccines work,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, “our boosters work, and it does not indicate more severe disease than the original Omicron.”
It’s still unclear who might need another booster. Some people have been clear: they don’t want to wear a mask. If the Biden Administration does lift the COVID-19 transportation mandates now, it can always re-impose them later.
“We look at hospitalizations for COVID-19,” said Dr. Walensky. “We look at hospital capacity, and, importantly, we also look at cases, so all of those go into the formulation as we used those metrics for future guidance.”
From collections at parishes to Catholic organizations on the ground in Ukraine, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan says he can’t remember the world ever being so united.
“There’s a unity in prayer,” Cardinal Dolan said, “secondly there’s a unity in advocacy. This world is standing up and saying this can’t be tolerated.”
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan gathered religious leaders at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan to ramp up efforts to help the people of Ukraine. It’s something the archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church says requires the entire world’s solidarity.
“There’s 10, 11, maybe 12 million people that have left their homes,” said Archbishop Borys Gudziak. “They’ve been forced out of their homes, they’re homeless…. but in addition to that there’s 12 million people that are still in homes but they cannot survive without aid.”
Then there’s the more than 3 million people who have fled the country. The U.S. is saying it will welcome up to 100,000 thousands of them here.
“It’s a start,” said Archbishop Gudziak, “but Poland is a much smaller country, one tenth the size, and it’s received 2 million.”
This offer from the U.S. comes after the government formally accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
“There have been numerous, credible reports of hospitals, schools, theaters, etceteras being intentionally attacked,” said Beth Van Schaack, U.S. Ambassador at-large for Global Criminal Justice. “The United Nations and other credible observers have confirmed hundreds of civilian deaths and we believe the exact civilian death toll will be in the thousands.”
The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N. says there’s concern about human trafficking.
“We are not speaking about possibility,” said Serhiy Kyslytsa, “we are speaking about how soon it happens. We are speaking about 3 million Ukrainians scattered across Europe and other countries in the world. They are affected and they are very vulnerable.”
Meanwhile Archbishop Gudziak estimates that with all of the dioceses and Catholic organizations combined, the Church has given more than $50 million dollars in aid to this humanitarian crisis.
“There’s a real unity in relief,” said Cardinal Dolan, “getting the people of Ukraine the supplies and relief they need in a time of suffering.”
The president of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association says it has donated just over a million dollars to Ukraine and the neighboring countries who are taking in refugees.
