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Pro-Life Advocate Finds Her Place in the Movement After Abortion Regret

By Jessica Easthope

Most people would associate regret with remorse or guilt but Leslie Davis Blackwell has transformed her regret into bravery.

“We own those signs if you will, I regret my abortion, we’re the ones that have courage to stand up and share our testimonies,” she said.

In 1983, Leslie says from the outside looking in – she was on top of the world, she was young, dating and just starting a promising career in TV, but she was also in pain, dealing with an emotional and spiritual crisis stemming from having two abortions.

According to a 2018 study by Ibis Reproductive Health many women who have had abortions feel relief but also experience sadness, regret and guilt.

“It was callous, it was scary, I just knew what I had to do, there is a sense of relief but then the problems start beginning,” said Leslie.

The picture didn’t become clear until decades later when Leslie realized her true calling wasn’t TV, but pro-life advocacy.

She had a “reversion” to her Catholic faith and went on a weekend healing retreat with Rachel’s Vineyard. That’s when the angle of her story changed, instead of using it to fight for abortions – she started to fight for the unborn.

“I know what it’s like to be on the other side, that angry, nasty, upset woman and now the peace that I have, no one can take away my story and what it did to me,” Leslie said.

For years, Leslie has been attending March for Life with Silent No More, an awareness campaign of men and women who have been affected by abortion and are no longer willing to stay silent about their regret.

Leslie says sharing her story has promoted a shift in the pro-life movement by encouraging people like her speak up and find their place in the fight for life.

“Our willingness to stand out there and be examples, we have so many people who need some healing,” she said.

Leslie said it took her 30 years to break her silence, her goal now is to help others do the same and maybe even save someone from making a decision they’ll regret.

 

If you or a loved one have been hurt by abortion, help is available. Just head on over to rachelsvineyard.org and silentnomoreawareness.org to learn more about the healing process.

How Pope Francis Could Lead a ‘Soft Power’ Push on Ukraine

News Analysis

By Currents News Staff and John L. Allen Jr.

ROME (Crux) — As Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine rages on, it’s become a staple of anti-Putin rhetoric to insist that the “whole world” is united in its outrage. U.S. President Joe Biden, for example, has said that the prayers “of the entire world” are with Ukraine, and vowed that “the world will hold Russia accountable.”

China, which represents one-sixth of the world all by itself, abstained from a March 2 vote of the UN General Assembly condemning Russia’s invasion, and while its public statements have been largely cautious, Chinese state-run media are using Putin’s rhetoric of a “special military operation,” recycling claims of U.S. biochemical labs in Ukraine, and reporting that the West provoked the conflict by ignoring Russia’s legitimate security concerns.Yet a quick survey of the global situation is enough to demonstrate that it’s not really so. In fact, what’s new about this situation is more that the U.S. and Europe are unusually united, but important chunks of the rest of the world, at least so far, aren’t fully on board.

Although the UAE recently announced it would support increased oil production by OPEC in order to counter rising fuel prices due to anti-Putin sanctions, it did so only reluctantly, and Saudi Arabia and several other OPEC members still appear to be sticking to their alliance with Russia, known as OPEC+.

In Africa, it’s become common to hear leaders grumble that while the West appears to be in a full, upright, and locked position on stopping the war in Russia, large-scale conflicts raging right now in Ethiopia and Cameroon elicit little more than pious statements of concern.

If we’re ever to arrive at a point where wars of aggression, such as in Ukraine, are a thing of the past, it will really have to be the entire world that mobilizes swiftly to punish the aggressor, meaning that important global players such as China, the Gulf States, and at least parts of Africa will have to be brought into the fold.

Happen to know anybody with cachet in precisely those three places?

This week, a well-known actress and fashion model who’s also a Ukrainian émigrée in Italy, Anna Safroncik, went on one of Italy’s most popular evening variety shows to appeal to Pope Francis to go immediately to Kyiv.

“Today, Kyiv is the capital of the free world, and it must be defended as a symbol of everything democracy has accomplished,” Safroncik said. “I think that if Pope Francis went to Kyiv, Putin would be forced to stop. By his presence alone, he could convince Putin to stop the bombs and open a real dialogue. Pope Francis, my city, which ordinarily in these months would be covered with white and red flowers, but which instead is being torn apart, is there, waiting for you.”

It may be slightly naïve to think that simply by showing up, Pope Francis could accomplish something that a combination of remarkably stiff resistance from Ukrainians and crippling international economic sanctions haven’t.

Nevertheless, Safroncik may be onto something, in the sense that Pope Francis arguably is the lone global leader right now with a real capacity to help make the wall of opposition to Putin truly global.

Pope Francis and his Vatican team, for instance, recently signed a controversial agreement with China over the appointment of bishops that’s been excoriated by critics as a deal with the devil. Vatican diplomats have defended the pact on the basis that, however imperfect, it at least keeps channels of communication with Beijing open, providing some potential leverage.

If ever there was a moment to try spending some of that political capital, this may well be it.

As for the Gulf States, Pope Francis made a highly successful outing to the UAE in 2019, signing a “Document on Human Fraternity” with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt. In general, Pope Francis has made outreach to the Islamic world a key priority, and he’s won the gratitude of many Muslim leaders for his solidarity at key moments, including his repeated insistence that Islam is a religion of peace and terrorism is, therefore, a betrayal of Islamic values.

Once again, now might be the moment to take that goodwill out for a spin and see what it can do.

Pope Francis’s popularity in Africa is the stuff of legend. He’s already made four trips to Africa, in contrast to the two under Pope Benedict XVI over roughly the same span of time, and he’s poised to make a fifth visit in 2022 to South Sudan. Further, Catholicism in Africa is surging, and a concerted push from Africa’s Catholic leadership in tandem with a charismatic pope could make a difference in how African nations choose to position themselves.

So far, the anti-Putin coalition has mostly deployed hard power, a combination of arming Ukrainians and economic sanctions. Maybe it’s time to apply a dose of soft power too, and Pope Francis would be in a unique position to lead that effort.

The increasingly sharp language of his top deputy, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, saying out loud that what’s happening in Ukraine is “a war unleashed by Russia” and expressing unequivocal condemnation of the bombings of a children’s and maternity hospital, may be a signal in that direction.

Here’s what Cardinal Parolin said Saturday in an interview with Vatican Editorial Director Andrea Torniell, speaking of refugees fleeing the war.

“Over the last few days, I have come across a group of them, who have arrived in Italy from various parts of Ukraine [with] blank stares, faces without smiles, endless sadness. … What is the fault of those young mothers and their children? We would have to possess a heart of stone in order to remain impassive and allow this havoc to continue, as rivers of blood and tears continue to flow.”

Cardinal Parolin also explicitly rejected Russia’s description of the conflict as a “special military operation” for humanitarian ends, saying, “Words are important, and to define what is happening in Ukraine as a military operation is to fail to recognize the reality of the facts. We are facing a war, which unfortunately claims many civilian victims, as all wars do.”

Cardinal Parolin also said he has expressed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “the Holy See’s total availability for any kind of mediation that could favor peace in Ukraine.”

Popes don’t possess any magic wands in these situations. Paul VI tried to work behind the scenes to end the Vietnam War; John Paul II pulled out all the stops to try to persuade the Bush administration not to invade Iraq, and both failed. Nonetheless, history at least remembers the effort, and it will also do so right now depending on how Pope Francis plays his cards.

Pope Francis Meets With Leaders of Countries Bordering Russia and Ukraine

By Currents News Staff

As fighting rages on in Ukraine, the leaders of nearby countries are turning to the Vatican to keep the war with Russia from spilling over into their territory.

This week, representatives from Latvia and Slovakia visited the Vatican. These meetings had been planned for months, but now they coincide at a critical moment in the region.

The first was with Slovak Prime Minister, Eduard Heger. He visited the Pope to thank him for his trip to Slovakia in September 2021, and presented him with a bell with the image of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

The pontiff gave him a bas-relief of the Our Lady of the Stairs, a popular icon in Rome in which the Virgin Mary holds the child Jesus in her arms. Pope Francis told him that, by becoming incarnate in a child, God became fragile and in need of his mother.

“This one I have in my office because it touches me very much,” Pope Francis said.

As usual, Pope Francis gave him the most important writings of his pontificate, and his message of peace for 2022.

“I signed it for you today,” he said.

Latvia’s Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkevics, then met with Pope Francis. His country shares over 100 miles of a border with Russia. Rinkevics gave him the speech he read during the pontiff’s visit to Riga, Latvia in 2018, along with a letter from Lativia’s President.

For his part, Pope Francis gave him a medallion in which the angel of peace defeats the angel of war.

“It says that there is a world of solidarity and peace founded on justice,” Pope Francis said.

A gift that the Latvian liked.

“This is most appropriate in the current circumstances,” the leader said.

Pope Francis then said goodbye to the foreign minister, and asked him to pray for him.

St. Anthony of Padua: Journey of the Saints (3/15/22)

St. Anthony of Padua

“The Lord breathes the breath of life, contrition of heart, into the face of the soul when he impresses upon it his own image and likeness, which has been soiled by sin, and renews it.”

Catholic News Headlines for Monday, 3/14/22

Emergency service workers in Ukraine had to rescue the residents of an apartment building in a Kyiv suburb after it was hit by shelling.

Pope Francis with his strongest condemnation of the war so far this morning in St. Peter’s Square.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is mourning the loss of his mother.

Boy with Marfan Syndrome Creates Hometown Hockey Tournament

By Monica Guy

A 12-year-old with a rare medical condition was frustrated he couldn’t play organized hockey with his friends.  So, he decided to start his own neighborhood league instead

Grow up in a state where little more than a puddle is an invitation to skate….and fate can sometimes be cruel. Owen Lipinski is a hockey fanatic. 

“It kind of makes me feel sad, you know?” Owen said.

His parents feel his pain.

“He is,” Becky Lipinski said.

 “Marfan syndrome is a connective tissue disorder,” said Kelly Lipinski.

Diagnosed at the age of two with Marfan, Owen was warned that as he grew, that a hard blow could leave him blind, or worst case, threaten his life.

“My body’s kind of…it’s not as strong as most other people’s,” Owen said.

Playing for Minnesota Special Hockey has been fun, but Owen wanted more.

“You know, I don’t understand why I can’t,” he said. “I just want to be part of a regular team.”

One day, Owen walked up to a hockey player’s doorstep and asked him if he could play. Skaters and fans all started to get excited. 

What else could this be?

“A hockey tournament,” Owen said.

Six teams were recruited from his neighborhood. One little brother was appointed as the referee and Owen, with his goalie dreams, is in the net for every game.

“He’s the ultimate goalie as he calls himself,” Kelly said.

Owen came up with the teams and designed their logos. He even sold raffle tickets to pay for their jerseys. Now, he’s safely surrounded by friends when he plays, and all are aware of his condition.

Parents keep close watch after finding themselves recruited too.

“It’s something he can do with his friends and probably feel a little bit more like he’s part of a team,” Becky said.

While the parents were once unsure of how their son would cope with his diagnosis, they keep watching as Owen puts their worries on ice.

Ukraine Railways Are Still Running While Carrying Supplies and Refugees

Currents News Staff

“First light” in Ternopil, in Western Ukraine, is the rising sun — the city lights have been kept off since the war began — more than two weeks that have exhausted, overwhelmed and completely upended normal life.

But, through it all, Ukraine’s rail network has kept running. Every morning, the railway’s executive, led by 37-year-old Oleksandr Kamyshin, gather for a morning call. No cell phones, no Zoom, just a Soviet-era closed-circuit phone system that connects every station. They won’t stay here long, they can’t. They believe they’re a prime Russian target.

“The strategy is to move fast so that they don’t catch you,” said Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukrainian Railways CEO, “and don’t spend a long time at one location.”

Instead, their work managing 231,000 employees continues on a single-car train headed west. For now. Often their work is aboard ordinary passenger trains – to blend in with the masses.

Since the war began, they’ve been in near-constant motion, criss-crossing the country, to keep the Russians guessing. The decision to leave their headquarters in Kyiv was made in the early morning hours of Feb. 24. 

Kamyshin snapped one last picture with his two young kids in Kyiv, one still asleep. He says his children are no longer in Ukraine.

“For me it’s easier when they know that they are safe and I have time to do my job,” said Kamyshin.

The country’s rail network, one of the largest in the world, has been a lifeline in war, moving desperately needed supplies in, and desperate people out of danger. So far, they’ve moved more than 2 million people since the invasion began.

Schedules are drawn up the night before and changed in response to panicked scenes like this one in Kharkiv or in Lviv in the early days of war.

The CEO is surprised that they’ve still been able to use the trains in a war zone.

“That’s something which is surprising for the whole country and for the president as well,” said Kamyshin.

It’s surprising because every day, the network is hit by Russian bombs.

Small damage breaks the link between the cities temporarily, but a downed bridge, indefinitely. 

Near Kharkiv, an undetonated bomb fell right next to the tracks. The Railway Director, Roman Chernitskyi, says they see shelling every day.

“We are reacting and repairing railways even under artillery shelling every day,” said Chernitskyi. “Unfortunately, some of my colleagues have been killed and injured during shelling.”

Experts Fear a New Cold War and Modern Iron Curtain Dropping on Eastern Europe

By Jessica Easthope

Fears of a growing threat reach far beyond the Ukrainian border – they pierce the hearts of people right here in New York City.

“This guy who’s sitting in the Kremlin can push the button at any time,” said Igor, a Ukraine native living in Brooklyn. “Everybody and the whole world is supposed to be worried about it now.”

Possibly being on the heels of another Cold War has those who remember the war feeling overwhelmed with a terrifying nostalgia.

“Right now, we have a serious problem,” said Russian-native Simon Rempel. “People dying right now, killing innocent children and women? What the hell is that? It’s like Nazis from 1939.”

For St. John’s University’s Political Science Professor Brian Browne, he says a modern “Iron Curtain’ could already be dropping on Eastern Europe.

“Russia has demonstrated a willingness to use Gas, Chemical Warfare, Cyber warfare, obliterating and minimizing a free press,” said Brian Browne. “As technology and times have changed, Russia is a real threat to freedom and democracy and stability, economic stability.”

Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, Washington and Moscow still control more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads, enough to destroy most life on earth. But despite the infamous drills done by school children back in those days, the threats of nuclear warfare aimed at the United States were always just that.

Some in Brooklyn’s Russian and Ukrainian stronghold of Brighton Beach, say those threats have always loomed and what we’re up against now is much different.

“I think a Cold War has been going on for some time already – now we’re talking about a real war,” said Rempel.

During the Cold War, St. John Paul II played a significant role in aiding the fall of Communism. But now, Pope Francis seems to be taking a more measured approach. He has yet to mention Russia by name.

“I repeat: Put down your weapons! God is with the peacemakers, not with those who use violence,” the Holy Father said.

Browne says with a global stage and the moral authority, is offering Vatican-led mediation enough to derail Vladimir Putin’s “by any means necessary” approach to an already unjustified war?

“There are many ways that he can use his bully pulpit and his position of, you know, kind of global neutrality to condemn Russia by name, to call this what it is,” said Browne.

The fear now as both information and propaganda are delivered in an instant is that the years between the last Cold War and a potential new one will be forgotten – and that this Cold War will be far worse than the first.

Russia Aims West and Attacks Large Military Base as Peace Talks Pause

Currents News Staff

Chaos and devastation continues as Russia intensifies its assault on Ukraine. Russian missiles hit a large military base near the western city of Lviv, killing at least 35 people and leaving more than 130 injured, according to local authorities.

The attack, not far from Poland, draws the war even closer to the borders of a NATO country. Russian forces also opened fire on two American journalists, killing one while wounding the other, according to Kyiv police.

“We crossed the checkpoint, and they started shooting at us,” said American journalist Juan Arredondo, “so, the driver turned around, but they kept shooting.”

There have been heavy explosions and multiple casualties after authorities say a residential building in the Ukrainian capital was hit by shelling.

“Sick kids fleeing on makeshift medical trains,” said First Lady of the United States Jill Biden, “the unthinkable bombing of a maternity ward, parents weeping over their children’s broken bodies in the street.”

U.S. officials say Russia has asked China for military support – including drones – as well as economic assistance. Both countries deny the request was made.

“We will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Meanwhile – the fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia were put on hold until Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will give a virtual address to U.S. congress on Wednesday.