Sr Helen Prejean
Photo: Sr Helen Prejean.org 
Religious urge governor to stop execution of inmate
Sr Helen Prejean, Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, Texas, and the Catholic Mobilising Network have been joined by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, Meek Mill and Kim Kardashian West in urging Texas Governor Greg Abbott to stop the scheduled November 20 execution of death-row inmate Rodney Reed.
A group of Texas lawmakers and more than two million petition signers also are pressing Abbott to spare Reed.
The basis of their objections is that Reed, who has spent nearly 22 years on death row, could be executed for a crime he possibly didn’t commit, pointing to new evidence they say could exonerate the 51-year-old convicted in 1996 of raping and killing 19-year-old Stacey Stites.
Don’t exploit tragic case to push euthanasia – UK group
An anti-euthanasia group in the UK is calling for the continuation of laws against assisted suicide, as the family of an elderly woman acquitted of murdering her husband wants the laws relaxed.
“It is sad to see this case being used to try and justify a campaign to rip up long held universal protections, by treating those who are terminally ill, disabled, or have chronic conditions differently in law,” said Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing.
“We know from the handful of places that have made such a change vulnerable people often feel pressured into ending lives prematurely.”
A jury cleared Mavis Eccleston, 80, of the murder and manslaughter of her husband Dennis, 81, in September, the BBC reports.
Group which exposed China organ trafficking awarded
An award named after Mother Teresa was given this week for outstanding efforts in social justice to a US-based non-profit that has unmasked forced organ harvesting in China.
Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) was the recipient of a Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice. The award was formally presented at an event in Mumbai, India. “DAFOH is honoured to be chosen to receive a prestigious Mother Teresa Memorial Award 2019, for raising awareness and sensitising both the global medical community and the public about #ForcedOrganHarvesting and genocide in China,” the organisation said in a tweet.
Bishop calls for end to child labour in Philippines
A Catholic bishop in the Philippines is drawing attention to the ongoing problem of child labour in the country, urging a cooperative effort to eliminate the factors driving children into often dangerous working conditions. “The situation of the suffering children and those who are deprived of their rights and dignity leave a great challenge to us as a Church and as a society,” said Bishop Roberto Mallari of San Jose, according to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ news website.
The government has introduced a plan to combat child labour and says it hopes to reduce the numbers of working children in the country by 30% by 2022, but the bishop has said the factors contributing to child labour are complex.
Pope restructures dioceses after Amazon synod
Following a proposal made during the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis restructured several dioceses in the Brazilian Amazon to better address the needs of local Catholics.
The Vatican announced that the Pope restructured the Archdiocese of Belem do Para, essentially dividing the ecclesiastical territory in half to create the Archdiocese of Santarem, which borders the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
He also divided the territorial prelature of Xingu, “and erected two new ecclesiastical regions: the Diocese of Xingu-Altamira and the territorial prelature of Alto Xingu-Tucuma”, the Vatican said.
