Deaf Catholics applaud Vatican’s sign language service
HOUSTON (CNS): When the Easter livestream of Pope Francis’ general audience and Angelus was broadcast for the first time in American Sign Language on the Vatican’s YouTube channel, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston’s deaf ministry in Texas, the United States, took particular notice.
Redemptorist Father Len Broniak, chaplain and programme director of the ministry called it a “great step forward for open access to the pope’s messages. I’m glad awareness is growing. The deaf community has been overlooked for such a long time. I hope this heightens awareness of the bishops throughout the world,” the priest added.
The Vatican’s new No One Excluded project offers interpreters in Italian and American Sign Language.
Along with the YouTube channel dedicated to accessibility for people with communication challenges, an app will be made available in the next few months for people with sensory disabilities, Vatican News reported. The effort is being piloted for one year, and there are hopes of expanding it to include other sign languages.
Deacon Bruce Flagg, ordained this year as one of the few deaf deacons in the US, said he wanted to thank the pope for his “dedication to inclusion on behalf of the deaf throughout the world.”
Irish government to lift ban on Mass attendance
DUBLIN (CNS): The Irish government said a Covid-19-related ban on Catholics attending Mass would be lifted May 10. The prime minister, Micheál Martin, made the announcement in a televised address to the nation on April 29 as he revealed a new road map for the reopening of society.
Public worship has been banned since 26 December 2020 amid increased cases—a move accepted by the Irish Bishops’ Conference and other faith leaders. However, the government provoked controversy earlier in April when health minister, Stephen Donnelly, made it a criminal offense for a priest to plan a public Mass or a Catholic to leave home to participate in Mass (Sunday Examiner, April 25).
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, head of the bishops’ conference, described this move as both “provocative” and “draconian.”
The prime minister announced that up to 50 people will be permitted to attend Mass beginning on May 10. Up to 50 will also be able to gather for funerals and wedding ceremonies; however wedding receptions will be restricted to just six people, or 15 people if the reception takes place outdoors.
Ireland had the strictest restrictions on religious services in Europe and currently remains the only jurisdiction in the European Union where a ban on people attending ceremonies exists.
Three of Ireland’s 26 dioceses straddle the border with Northern Ireland and north of the border public worship has been permitted since March 26.
Moscow archbishop prays for justice, mercy as political protests continue
ROME (CNS): While the Russian government’s treatment of jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, is “mainly a political question,” the mass arrests of protesters and the situation in Russia’s jails are a concern for the Catholic Church and all Christians, said the head of Moscow’s Mother of God Archdiocese.
Archbishop Paolo Pezzi said, “We ask that justice be given to the innocent; mercy to the guilty; intelligence, courage and wisdom to those who must judge; and, especially, humanity to those who must then enforce the punishment.”
In an interview on April 29 with SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops’ conference, Archbishop Pezzi entrusted his prayer to the intercession of Friedrich Joseph Haass, a 19th-century German Catholic doctor who spent most of his life in Russia caring for the poor, especially prisoners, and advocating for improved conditions in the country’s jails.
Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon his return from Germany where he spent five months in the hospital after a near-fatal nerve agent attack. Mass protests against his jailing have taken place since then and an estimated 13,000 protesters have been arrested.
Asked specifically about Navalny’s case, Archbishop Pezzi preferred to quote a Russian priest who said: “As a priest it is not important what a prisoner’s name is, what his last name is or the article under which he was condemned. But for me, the words of Christ who calls us to treat anyone in prison as if they were Christ himself have great importance.”
