Buttiglione Protests ‘Anti-Christian Inquisition’

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, Oct. 19 — Italian justice minister Rocco Buttiglione, under fire for his social conservatism, accused the European Union of fomenting a “new anti-Christian Inquisition.”

Buttiglione, a Catholic politician and philosopher who is a friend and biographer of Pope John Paul II, has seen his appointment as European Commission justice commissioner threatened by a coalition of socialist, communist, Green and other leftist members of the European Parliament. He initially excited their ire by suggesting homosexuality is sinful and speaking out in support of the traditional family during an appearance in early October before the parliament's civil liberties committee.

Most recently, he was accused of bigotry against single mothers after he was quoted saying, “Children who have no father and only a mother are not children of a very good mother.”

In response, Buttiglione spoke of his “respect for those women who face the responsibility of educating and bringing up their children alone,” but added, “It is obvious that if children have a father and a mother they are better off.”

Buttiglione has threatened to resign rather than retract his comments. Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Justice and Peace, has come to his defense, saying Buttiglione is a victim of “powerful cultural, economic and political lobbies that are inspired mainly by anti-Christian prejudices.”

Kenyan Government Implicated in U.S. Priest's Death

NAIROBI NATION, Oct. 19 — Further evidence suggesting that Mill Hill missionary priest John Kaiser was murdered four years ago was presented at an inquest in Kenya Oct. 18.

Sister Nuala Brangan of Loreto Convent Msongari testified that several Kenyan women had sought Father Kaiser's help in protecting them from a series of rapes they claimed cabinet minister Julius Sunkuli was responsible for, the Nairobi newspaper reported.

The body of Father Kaiser, 72, a native of Minnesota, was found in August 2000 outside his pickup truck on a road north of Nairobi. The long-time champion of the human rights of the Kenyan people had been shot in the back in the head with a shotgun. Despite this, the Kenyan government and the FBI ruled his death a suicide.

Sister Brangan said she traveled to the scene shortly after the priest's death, noted that both sides of his truck and its front window had been smashed, and saw tire tracks of another vehicle “which seemed to have made a turn and sped towards Nairobi.” The inquest continues.

Patriarch Says God is Solution to Birth Dearth

ASIA NEWS, Oct. 19 — In an address at a forum on Russia's collapsing population, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksei II declared that a “spiritual crisis” was largely to blame.

“We must again start to think of life as a gift of God and respect it for this reason,” the patriarch said. He urged the Russian government to work with the Orthodox Church to foster healthy morals and families.

Since 2000, Russia's population has fallen by 6 million to 144 million. Currently, there are 13 abortions for every 10 live births, Asia News reported, and, if trends continue, the population will fall to 50 million to 55 million by 2075.