Thursday, March 31, Third Week in Lent
Monastery of Mar Saba, Holy Land.
[I cannot find any online images of today's saint]
ST. STEPHEN OF MAR SABA (Palestine, 725-796)
Orthodox monk, Hermit
Stephen was the nephew of St. John Damascene who took him into the 5th century Mar Saba
monastery when the boy was 10 and educated him for the next 15 years. After John's death in
749, Stephen spent the next 8 years of his life passing on what he had learned from his uncle.
Then he decided he wanted to be a hermit, and was allowed by his superior to spend 5 days of
the week alone, but to provide spiritual guidance on Saturdays and Sundays. Towards the end
of his life, Stephen saw the Saracens invade Palestine and take over many of its cities.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/033110.shtml
OR today.
This issue leads off with the Holy Father's appeal for resolution of the conflict in the Ivory Coast, where a defeated President refuses to step down - the Pope has sent Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana as his personal envoy to show solidarity with the population. At teh General Audience, his catechesis was on St. Alphonsus de Liguori. Page 1 international news: Japan will dismantle the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant; China reviews its plans for expanding its nuclear power program; London conference on Libya wants Qaddafi out, even as his forces push back the rebels and retake a key oil refinery - the anti-Qaddafi alliance does not rule out arming the rebels; and Italian President Napolitano calls for a uniform European policy regarding illegal immigration, as Italy bears the brunt of North African refugees landing by the thousands on the Sicilian outlying island of Lampedusa which is closest to Libya.
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met with
- His Beatitude Sviatoslav Schevchuk, newly-enthroned Archbishop-Major of Kyiv-Halyč (Ukraine)
- Officials of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) led by Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis,
Archbishop of Aparecida (Brazil), president.
- Four bishops of ths Siro-Malabar Church of India (Group 2) on ad limina visit. Individual meetings.
The Vatican has released in all the official Vatican languages the annual message of the Pontifical Council for
Inter-Religious Dialog to the Buddhists of the world on the occasion of their coming celebration of Vesakh, a holiday
commemorating the main events in the life of Gautama Buddha. It is celebrated on various days - May 8 in Japan,
May 11 in the countries practising mostly Mahayana Buddhism (Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore and Taiwan), and
May 17 in the Theravada Buddhist countries (Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos).
Apostolic Vicar in Tripoli says
airstrikes have killed
at least 40 civilians in Tripoli
ROME, March 31 (Reuters) – At least 40 civilians have been killed in air strikes by Western forces on Tripoli, the top Vatican official in the Libyan capital told a Catholic news agency on Thursday, quoting witnesses.
"The so-called humanitarian raids have killed dozens of civilian victims in some neighborhoods of Tripoli," said Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.
"I have collected several witness accounts from reliable people. In particular, in the Buslim neighborhood, due to the bombardments, a civilian building collapsed, causing the death of 40 people," he told Fides, the news agency of the Vatican missionary arm.
Libyan officials have taken foreign reporters to the sites of what they say were the aftermath of Western air strikes on Tripoli but evidence of civilian casualties has been inconclusive.
Western powers say they have no confirmed evidence of civilian casualties from air strikes, which they have carried out under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians caught in conflict between Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces and rebels.
"It's true that the bombardments seem pretty much on target, but it is also true that when they hit military targets, which are in the middle of civilian neighborhoods, the population is also involved," Martinelli said.
"Yesterday I said that bombardments had hit, albeit indirectly, some hospitals. To be precise, one of these hospitals is in Mizda," he said, mentioning a town about 145 km (90 miles) southwest of the capital.
Martinelli said living conditions in the Libyan capital were getting more difficult by the day, while on the ground a military stalemate appeared to be taking hold.
"That is why I say that a diplomatic solution is the principal way to put an end to the spilling of blood among Libyans, offering Gaddafi a dignified exit," he said.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/03/2011 14:39]