NEWS BRIEFS Feb-4-2003 By Catholic News Service
Maryknoll missionaries in Venezuela say Chavez helping poor
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Maryknoll lay missionaries in Venezuela praised beleaguered President Hugo Chavez for improving conditions for the poor and said that unconstitutional means should not be used to topple the democratically elected president. "Our low-income communities give testimony to the fact that the government has indeed given priority to the poor," said a statement signed by all nine missionaries in the South American country. "If unconstitutional or violent means are used to overthrow a democratically elected government here in Venezuela, this may set an undesirable precedent for other countries of Latin America," said the statement. In subsequent telephone interviews with Catholic News Service, several signers said that under Chavez they could see benefits to the poor in terms of better education, health and housing conditions in the low-income neighborhoods where the missionaries work.
U.S. religious criticize embassy's use of theologian to defend war
ROME (CNS) -- A group of American religious superiors and theologians wrote to U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson to protest his enlistment of a U.S. theologian to defend the idea of "preventive war" to Vatican officials. In a letter faxed to Nicholson Feb. 3, the group said the theologian, Michael Novak, varied from the "almost unanimous" church condemnation of a new war on Iraq and said his "appointment" by the embassy seemed to violate the principle of separation of church and state. The group chided the ambassador for not consulting with U.S. church leaders in his choice of Novak and urged Nicholson to "represent the full voice of the (U.S.) Catholic community" by opening up his meetings with Vatican officials "to others beyond your appointed theologian." The letter was faxed by the Justice and Peace Office of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, based in Silver Spring, Md., and bore nearly 60 names of superiors of men's and women's religious orders, officials of the peace organization Pax Christi USA and various theologians. A copy of the text was obtained Feb. 4 by Catholic News Service. Officials at the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican had no immediate comment on the letter.
New Zealand cardinal says attack on Iraq lacks moral justification
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (CNS) -- A New Zealand cardinal said a U.S.-led attack on Iraq has no justification "on grounds of international law or sane morality." Cardinal Thomas Williams of Wellington said while U.N. inspectors have failed to find proof of Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction U.S. President George W. Bush still appears intent on invading the Middle East nation. "Why in heaven's name is the Bush administration so hell-bent on attacking Iraq?" Cardinal Williams asked in a Feb. 4 statement. In a separate statement, the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference appealed to Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "to refrain from an armed offensive against the Iraqi people." In a Jan. 31 statement from their plenary meeting in Pretoria, the bishops said, "To wage war at this stage is immoral and illegal, and therefore must be excluded."