The Chaldean auxiliary bishop of Baghdad has called on Iraq to return to its constitution, arguing that the country’s fundamental legal and political text “must clarify individual rights and freedoms” and lamenting that as things stand, “it is difficult to change anything and there is a widespread feeling of pessimism”.
Dr Shlemon Warduni’s comments came in the aftermath of Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael I Sako’s request to the Iraqi parliament that the law under which a child is registered as a Muslim if one of the parents converts to Islam be amended.
Describing this as “unjust and discriminatory”, he called unsuccessfully for minors to be allowed retain their original religion until they turn 18, when they may consciously and freely choose what religion they profess.
A Peruvian bishop has called for a local politician to step aside in order to give peace to the people of his city.
Chimbota’s Bishop Angel Simon Piorno has said that deputy mayor Julio Cortez Rojas should step aside while legal proceedings continue against him.
“If one is involved in a court case, one should resign immediately,” said Dr Piorno, adding, “Mr. Cortez should step aside to restore peace to the people of this city and in the interest of the proper functioning of the municipal management.”
Chimbote’s mayor, Victoria Espinoza Garcia, was sentenced in August to seven years in prison.
African
conference
to
have
observer
status
in
Ethiopia
The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) is to have observer status at the African Union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The new status was acquired following the signing of a memorandum of understanding on behalf of Lubango’s Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, SECAM’s President, and the African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Aisha Laraba Abdullahi.
The two parties have committed themselves to consult one another, establish programmes of cooperation, send observers to meetings on matters of common interest, cooperate at national, continental and international levels , and work together in seeking funds for joint activities for the benefit of the entire continent.
l Burundi’s government has rejected an appeal from the country’s bishops for national dialogue in order to rescue the country from the political turmoil surrounding a failed coup in May and the countroversial reelection of President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Ngozi’s Bishop Gervais Banshimiyubusa, head of Burundi’s bishops’ conference, had on September 20 said “we have to accept to sit down together, without exception, to diagnose together the disease that afflicts us and find the right remedy”, adding “it is necessary that the real actors of the conflict who are fighting for power sit together without delay”.