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Events Today in Church History

     For events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on TIME CAPSULES: ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

THIS DAY IN CHURCH HISTORY

Historical Events in Church Annals for June 29:

922 A.D.


Robert I, great grandson of Charlemagne the Great, is coronated King of France. He would only live five years as the interim monarch between Catholic kings Charles III and Rudolf, who founded Burgundy.

1214 A.D.


Pope Innocent III lifts the interdict of excommunication against England and King John who had refused to acknowledge the Pope's appointment of Bishop Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. The Holy Father only lifted the interdiction after John made full apology and submission to Rome and declared his Anglo-Irish domains a papal fiefdom.

1312 A.D.


Pope Clement V, held prisoner by Robert of Sicily at St. Peter's, assigns three cardinals to officially coronate Henry IV of Luxembourg as the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII at the Lateran.

1748 A.D.


Pope Benedict XIV releases the fifth encyclical - Magnae Nobison marriage impediments and dispensations and written for the bishops of Poland.

1881 A.D.


Pope Leo XIII issues his seventh encyclical - Diuturnium on the origin of civil power.

1896 A.D.


Pope Leo XIII ushers his 61st encyclical on the unity of the Church Satis cognitum.

1936 A.D.


Pope Pius XI releases his encyclical to the bishops of the United States on motion pictures with Vigilanti cura, something succeeding pontiffs have also done, but none as consistently as Pope John Paul II.

1958 A.D.


Forty years ago today Pope Pius XII issued his next-to-last encyclical Ad Apostolorum Principis, this one was targeted for the Bishops of China on Communism and the Church in China. From the state of things today, very little has changed behind the great wall.

1959 A.D.


Pope John XXIII issued his first encyclical on this date on truth, unity, and peace entitled Ad Petri Cathedram.

China continues charade of human rights despite evidence Catholic bishop arrested again!

     The great wall of China hides a plethora of secrets that the press is frantically attempting to uncover as China has the spotlight shone on them this week with the controversial visit of Bill Clinton. According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, Bishop Julias Jia Zhiguo and thirty priests have been placed under house arrest because they refuse to turn their back on Rome and the Holy Father. Since they are not a part of the National Patriotic Catholic Church in China, the Red Chinese figure it's fair game to incarcerate those who disagree, but human rights doesn't work that way. But don't expect Clinton to press the issue, that's not his style unless it's politically expedient. For more on his Salzburg visit, click on Chinese impropriety

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- At least 30 Chinese priests and one bishop have been placed under house arrest, according to the US- based Cardinal Kung Foundation.

      The Foundation said that Bishop Julias Jia Zhiguo was one of the priests assigned to house arrest. Bishop Zhiguo does not belong to the government-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association.

      In Rome, Vatican officials were unable to verify the report of the bishop's arrest. Bishop Zhiguo had previously been placed under house arrest, in February, during a visit to China by three American religious leaders.

      Father Bernardo Cervellera, the director of the Vatican news agency Fides, reported that Bishop Zhiguo is a very dynamic pastor, who has undertaken many risks in his work for the underground Church. He said that Catholics have appealed to US President Bill Clinton to help the bishop leave China.

      Fides has reported that 30 priests of the underground Church were placed under restrictions before Clinton's visit to China. "They want China's problems to stay inside the country," Fides explained.

      The foundation said Bishop Julias Jia Zhiguo of northern Hebei province was taken into custody in the past few days by Chinese officials who in recent years have detained dozens of other bishops and priests who refuse allegiance to the state-sponsored Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, an organization that eschews connections to the Catholic Church as led by the pope and College of Bishops.

      The arrest coincides with reports of dissident arrests in areas where Clinton will travel in order to prevent them from being interviewed by American journalists. The Vatican said it could not confirm the arrest, but the official Fides news agency said it believes the report because Bishop Zhiguo had already been arrested once this year.

Pope's prayers paying off at World Conference in Rome




     They say the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" but at the UN Conference on International Crime, the pro-abort women's caucus is turning more votes away by their incessant demand to allow abortions over the "enforced pregnancy" and "gender persecution" agendas be included as crimes. It is the radicals' clever tactics to make a refusal for abortion be classified a "crime." The real crime is the killing of the babies and the Holy Father continues to pray, along with the Church and pro-lifers the world over that these narrow-minded delegates will see the truth and the truth will set them free. For more, click on UN Conference.

      ROME (CWNews.com) - Delegates at a UN conference setting up an international criminal court are beginning to turn against radical feminists' attempts to have "enforced pregnancy" and "gender persecution" defined as crimes, according to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CAFHRI) on Friday.

      Since the beginning of the conference last week, the Women's Caucus has pushed delegates to include the two issues as criminal statutes, but resisted requests for an explicit definition of the terms. Delegates have expressed concern that 'enforced pregnancy' ... could make any country's refusal to provide on-demand access to abortion a crime under international law," CAFHRI said in a statement. "Similarly, the term 'gender' ... could be interpreted as criminalizing any national laws or policies that favor heterosexual marriage over homosexual couplings."

      Opposition to the inclusion of the terms has found an unexpected ally in the United States. The US delegation has vigorously argued in favor of a precise definition of every crime to be included in the final treaty. Opponents of the terms point out that the court's Draft Statute explicitly endorses the legal principle that "no person should be convicted of a crime without explicit and specific definition of the elements of that crime."

How can the media fully report on the faith if they have no concept of the faith?

     That was the question the head of the Pontifical Council of Social Communications Archbishop John Foley posed to a group on social communcations. He reiterated that every news source, whether a major print daily, radio station or network television should have specialists who can more accurately decipher and report the news to the people in a fair way so the public will get the true picture and not a fabricated version as the media is so wont to do today. For more, click on media accuracy .

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Archbishop John Foley, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, has suggested that every news magazine, newspaper, and broadcast outlet should have a specialist on the news staff to handle questions of religion.

      The archbishop said that his suggestion was aimed at avoiding "misunderstandings" and "inaccuracies" that arise when journalists do not understand the field. It is, he said, a question of credibility.

      Speaking to a conference in Rome on social communications, Archbishop Foley said that journalists have a duty to report accurately on the work of the Catholic Church and of other faiths.

Hope and prayers are showing we're winning the war against the culture of death

     While those fostering and praying for the Culture of Life have lost numerous battles, the overall feeling is that those who trust in God are winning the war over those who persist in pushing their own agenda of the culture of death. This is born out in the latest figures by the United States Center for Disease Control which shows abortion has decreased since 1992. Meanwhile, pro-life Republicans are pushing for a bill that would deny suicide-assisted doctors any federal financial assistance in prescribing drugs that would contribute to the culture of death. For more, click on Battle for life.

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report on Thursday that shows that pregnancy rates for girls between ages 15 and 19 have dropped in all 42 states surveyed between 1992 and 1995.

      The same survey also showed that abortion rates dropped in all the states except Maine, Ohio, and Oregon. The CDC said the abortion rate dropped even faster than birth rates, showing that the decrease in teen births is due to a fall in teen pregnancy rates and not an increase in abortion.

      "The early 1990s were a turning point in adolescent pregnancy trends, following the increase that occurred in the 1980s," said Donna Shalala, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Still, she noted, nearly 1 million teenage girls become pregnant each year, and more than 200,000 girls have abortions. The researchers attributed the decline in teen pregnancy to increased abstinence, greater use of birth control, increasing acceptance of birth among unmarried teens, and tightened access to abortions.

      In a related story of evidence the culture of death advocates aren't winning as many victories as they'd like you to think, two Republican congressmen co-sponsored a proposed law on Thursday that would deny doctors a federal license to prescribe drugs for assisted suicide.

      The proposal by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois, and Sen. Don Nickels, R-Oklahoma, follows a recent announcement by the Justice Department that federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents will not prosecute or the pharmaceutical license of doctors who assist suicides under Oregon's landmark law legalizing the practice. But Hyde said there might not be enough time left in this session of Congress to address the bill, when his House Judiciary Committee is already tackling partial-birth abortions and out-of-state teen abortions.

      Supporters and critics of assisted suicide have already begun lobbying members of Congress. Lori Hougens of the National Right to Life Committee said she has contacted 150 congressmen about the issue since last year, and has received indications of wide support for similar legislation. Oregon Death With Dignity, which supports assisted suicide, said it is hiring a public relations firm and has contacted Oregon's congressional delegation with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, already promising a potential filibuster.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

June is the month of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. For the Consecration to the Two Hearts click on Consecration

CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

CONSECRATION PRAYER

      Jesus, we know that You are merciful and that You have offered Your Heart for us. It is crowned with thorns and with our sins. We know that You implore us constantly so that we do not go astray. Jesus, remember us when we are in sin. By means of your Heart make all men love one another. Make hate disappear from amongst men. Show us Your love. We all love You and want You to protect us with Your Shepherd's Heart and free us from every sin. Jesus, enter into every heart! Be patient and never desist. We are still closed because we have not understood Your Love. Knock continuously, O Good Jesus, make us open our hearts to You at least in the moment we remember Your Passion suffered for us. Amen.

(Dictated by Our Lady to Jelena Vasilij on November 18, 1983)

CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULTE HEART OF MARY

CONSECRATION PRAYER

      O Immaculate Heart of Mary, ardent with goodness, show Your Love towards us. May the flame of Your Heart, O Mary, descend on all mankind. We love You so. Impress true love in our hearts so that we have a continuous desire for You. O Mary, humble and meek of heart, remember us when we are in sin. You know that all men sin. Give us, by means of Your Immaculate Heart, spiritual health. Let us always see the goodness of Your maternal Heart and may we all be converted by means of the flame of Your Heart Amen.

(Dictated by Our Lady to Jelena Vasilij on November 28, 1983)

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June 29, 1998 volume 9, no. 125   DAILY CATHOLIC