Vatican Stands Up for Children

VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE, Oct. 15—Archbishop Renato Martino, outgoing Holy See representative to the United Nations, addressed a U.N. committee Oct. 14 concerning the rights of children. He noted the problems facing millions of children around the world, including injustice, poverty, epidemics and sickness, lack of educational possibilities and lack of basic social services, according to the Vatican Information Service.

Archbishop Martino said that “carrying out the mission of promoting and protecting the rights of children and caring for their spiritual and physical well-being has been the concern of various agencies of the Catholic Church for centuries. Let this discussion help to remind the family of nations that the future of humanity rests upon the shoulders of today's children and young people. Let us pledge to lighten that burden by continuing to promote and protect their rights and provide them with what they need to enhance their well-being.”

Vatican Condemns Falwell's Prophet-Criticism

TEHERAN TIMES, Oct. 12—Ignace Moussa Daoud, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, criticized the American evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell for his blunt remarks about Mohammed. On the CBS show “60 Minutes,” Falwell had called the founder of Islam “a terrorist ... a man of war.”

In a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to the Holy See, Mostafa Boroujerdi, Daoud stressed that Christians respect Islam as a monotheistic religion, according to the Teheran Times.

Daoud said the Vatican was eager to deepen its dialogue with the Muslim world. He also thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran for its tolerant treatment of Christian minorities and Catholics in particular. Boroujerdi responded by reaffirming the need for mutual respect among the followers of different faiths.

Dispute Over Mother Teresa‘Miracle'

TIME ASIA, Oct. 21—The first recognized posthumous miracle attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta is under question, according to Time Asia.

On Sept. 5, 1998—one year after the heroic sister died—Monica Besra, a resident of Dangram, almost 500 miles from Calcutta, invoked Mother Teresa's help for abdominal pain. She pressed a medallion with the sister's image against an area that contained a tumor and the pain immediately ceased.

Two weeks ago, the Vatican accepted this event as probably miraculous and moved forward the process for Mother Teresa's canonization, the magazine reported.

But questions have arisen about the miraculous nature of Besra's cure from her husband, Seiku Murmu, and the doctors who had been treating Besra.

“My wife was cured by the doctors and not by any miracle,” Murmu said. “I want to stop this jamboree, people coming with cameras every few hours or so.”

Besra admitted she saw doctors, but insisted the pain from her tumor only abated when she applied the medallion and prayed to Mother Teresa.