Monday’s calamitous fire at Notre-Dame elicited an unprecedented outpouring of generosity from donors near and far, great and small. But as the embers cooled, so have cracks appeared in the initial élan of unity and controversy flared over funds.

Donations nearing the billion euro mark

Donors had by Thursday already pledged €850 million to rebuild the 850-year-old monument. The unheard-of sum appeared with lightning speed — not least, observers quip, thanks to a fortuitous, decades-old rivalry between two of France’s top culture-minded billionaire families, the Pinaults and the Arnaults, who head the world’s top luxury goods giants, Kering and LVMH.

The Pinaults pledged €100 million shortly after midnight on the night of the fire, with the Arnaults adding €200 million as Paris awoke the following morning. The Bettencourt family and its L’Oréal cosmetics firm chipped in €200 million later on Tuesday. Other French fortunes have followed suit (the Bouygues brothers offered up €10 million euros; Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière earmarked €10 million more to revive the building’s iconic spire).

Other firms pledged help in kind. Air France-KLM offered free flights for experts officially taking part in the rebuilding of Notre-Dame. The day after the blaze, the insurer Groupama offered 1,300 oak trees from the forests it owns in Normandy, on the assumption the cathedral’s ravaged roof would be rebuilt to match the 13th-century original. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal on Thursday offered up steel. Saint-Gobain has offered its glasswork expertise.

Books, videogames, cartoons

Publishers of certain French-language editions of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, which shot to the top of bestseller lists after the tragedy, have pledged to donate the proceeds.

French video game maker Ubisoft, whose Assassin’s Creed Unity includes a faithful digital reproduction of Notre-Dame, promised €500,000 to the cause

Abroad, Apple chief Tim Cook pledged an unspecified sum and the Walt Disney Company, which turned Hugo’s Hunchback into a 1996 animated feature, said it would put up $5 million. The University of Notre Dame promised another $100,000.

An Olympic effort

The International Olympic Committee said it would give €500,000 to boost the chances of meeting French President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year rebuild goal, with Paris slated to host the summer Games in five years’ time. “The objective of completing this reconstruction in time for Paris 2024 will be extra motivation for us all,” IOC President Thomas Bach wrote in a letter to the organisers.

In Hungary, the city of Szeged, population 160,000, said it would donate €10,000 in gratitude for a donation from the City of Paris after a flood devastated the city south of Budapest killing 160 people in 1879.

Still, the astronomical pledges from conglomerates, billionaires and government authorities the world over have not discouraged individual donors from stepping forward en masse. The Fondation du Patrimoine, or French Heritage Foundation, had collected €13.1 million in donations from individuals by late Wednesday. It is one of four organisations the French government has certified to take donations, alongside the Fondation de France, the Fondation Notre-Dame de Paris and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

Scam artists at work

The Fondation du Patrimoine issued a warning on Wednesday that fraudsters are seeking to profit from the torrent of generosity after the inferno. “A number of scams have been flagged to us both in France and abroad,” the organisation said Wednesday, saying any phone, mail or e-mail appeals aren’t coming from the foundation. “All of these initiatives are fraudulent.”

Taxman lends a hand

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced an extra fiscal incentive for individual donors, bumping the usual tax break for such donations to 75 percent, up from 66 percent, for gifts up to €1,000.

Gilles Carrez, the conservative lawmaker who reports to the French lower house’s Finance Committee on heritage spending matters, deplored the fact that exemptions meant taxpayers would be saddled with the lion’s share of reconstruction costs. “Out of nearly €700 million [pledged Tuesday], nearly €420 million will be financed by the state, by way of the 2020 budget,” Carrez told Le Monde.

The MEDEF employers’ union, for its part, put out a statement on Thursday noting that, since Notre-Dame Cathedral belongs to the state, which serves as its own insurer for the building, all of the rebuilding costs would fall to the state anyway. “Every donation, even tax exempt at 60 percent, is therefore a 40 percent savings for the state on the amount given,” it said. In short, since no one would suggest leaving the emblematic landmark in ruin, every little contribution helps.

Some rich donors, meanwhile — amid mounting controversy over their motivations as well as the hit to taxpayers – said they would forgo the fiscal favours attached to giving. The Pinault family said as much Wednesday and JCDecaux followed suit Thursday. LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault told a shareholder meeting on Thursday that his family holding company was not eligible for a tax break and that his firm had reached the ceiling for such benefits.

“There’s some pettiness and jealousy in the air, instead of people thinking about the general interest,” Arnault said, responding to criticism over his pledges. “In many other countries we’d be congratulated.”

Backlash

Indeed, in a country that has seen 22 consecutive Saturdays of Yellow Vest protests partly in the name of income inequality, the backlash to such spontaneous largesse is audible.

“In one click, 200 million, 100 million. That shows the inequality which we regularly denounce in this country,” CGT union chief Philippe Martinez said Wednesday. “If they can give tens of millions to rebuild Notre-Dame, then they should stop telling us there is no money to help with the social emergency [in France].”

On BFMTV, Ingrid Levavasseur, one of the early figureheads of the Yellow Vest movement, slammed “the inertia of the big conglomerates in the face of social misery when they prove their capacity for mobilising ‘crazy cash’ for Notre-Dame in a single night”.

Culture Minister Franck Riester responded to the controversy: “This pointless debate consists of saying ‘it’s too much money for Notre-Dame even though there are needs elsewhere’ – of course there’s a need for money for the social system, for health, the fight against climate change,” Riester told RMC radio. “But let’s leave this extraordinary show of generosity to run its course.”

Meanwhile, the media personality who Macron charged with overseeing the influx of funds has pointed out that restoring the cathedral will bring France’s unique savoir-faire to bear and that the funds raised will save métiers and create jobs. “When will people understand that stones nourish men? For goodness’ sake, all of these professions would disappear!” Stéphane Bern told BFMTV. “Opposing old stones to men is ridiculous!”

Observers further afield took note of the discrepancy in action over Notre-Dame and causes like climate change or justice for the victims of London’s deadly 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made the analogy in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. “Yesterday, the whole world witnessed with sadness and despair the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, but Notre-Dame will be rebuilt. I hope it has strong foundations and I hope we have strong foundations, but I’m not so sure.” Evoking the panic needed when one’s house is on fire, Thunberg told the assembled lawmakers, “Our house is falling apart and yet nothing is happening. We’ll have to switch to cathedral mode. I ask you to wake up and do what is necessary.”

Knock-on effects

The sweeping breadth of fundraising for Notre-Dame did indirectly bring attention and inspire knock-on generosity for three US churches recently ravaged by arson.

As Twitter users suggested that US President Donald Trump and US Vice-President Mike Pence appeared more interested in Notre-Dame than in the three Louisiana churches attended predominantly by African American worshippers and torched by a white suspect three weeks ago, a social media campaign urged people to give.

Supporters tweeted nods to the French cathedral blaze to encourage help century-old churches an ocean away.

Among them was Hillary Clinton, who tweeted: “As we hold Paris in our hearts today, let’s also send some love to our neighbours in Louisiana.”

Donors responded: Pledges for the Louisiana churches spiked to $1.5 million on Wednesday night, at least quintupling the money gathered over the previous week.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS and AP)

The wife of an American missionary killed in Cameroon in October is asking for prayer for herself and her eight children as she has now learned that she has numerous masses on her liver.

The Praying for Stephanie Wesco Facebook page outlines that Wesco went to the emergency room last month to have herself checked for appendicitis due to pain, but a scan found that she rather had a lesion on her liver.

“My doctor ordered an MRI, just to double check the lesion, and it revealed 4-5 masses in my liver,” an update from Wesco outlines, as shared by a family friend. Wesco is now scheduled for testing and a biopsy at Cancer Treatment Centers of America this week.

“I covet your prayers right now! The future holds so many unknowns,” she wrote. “Please pray that the Lord will work miraculously and bring glory to Himself through this trial.”

Wesco also asked for prayer for her eight children, who just went through the loss of their father, and now are experiencing another parental hardship.

“Please pray for my precious children, as their lives are once again flipped around,” she requested. “They are dealing with all of their own questions as we go through this new valley.”

Wesco said that while her circumstances have taken “away almost every plan, dream and hope that I held so precious and left me with no one but Him to cling to, by faith,” God’s “Word continues to lighten the path and give strength for every moment of every day.”

As previously reported, the Wescos moved to Cameroon last October after selling their house and possessions in Indiana. They had been working for two years to raise support to conduct missions work in the nation, and had previously served in South Africa in 2003 and 2004.

However, just two weeks following their arrival, while the couple was out for a shopping trip, Charles was tragically shot in the head with his wife sitting right behind him in the car.

“My precious husband, Charles, is now with the Savior he adored and faithfully served for many years,” Stephanie Wesco wrote on a GoFundMe page that had been set up for the family. “His life focus was seeking to cause others to love Jesus and serve him. My prayer is that somehow someway Jesus will be glorified through my precious Charles’ death and that God will not let his death have been in vain.”

“My heart is broken. I want to wake up from a horrific nightmare,” she candidly acknowledged.

Wesco had served as assistant pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church in South Bend, where his father was pastor emeritus. His brother is state Representative Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, and also serves as a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Elkhart.

Messages of support poured in on Sunday after learning of Stephanie Wesco’s new battle. One post asking those praying to list their city and state had over 500 comments as of press time.

“Missionaries Dan and Edna Cadavos, along with Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, Philippines are keeping you and the children on our prayer list! (Edna also battling cancer.) Trusting His plans, His way,” one commenter wrote on the page.

“Stephanie, I am praying for you. … Your father-in-law was my pastor when I was little. You have been in my heart. Praying for you,” another shared.

“You are walking through a deep and unimaginable valley. But our God? He is THE ‘God of the valleys.’ My husband and I are praying for you and your children daily,” a third stated.

“I can not imagine what you are going through, but remember, this is no surprise to God. So in His plan, we must be strong and of good courage,” another exhorted. “Mrs. Stephanie Wesco, the Lord is with you and so are all of us!”

Source: Christian News

Pope Francis says arms sales by the United States and Europe are to blame for the deaths of people, including children, in such places as Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan.

“The rich Europe and America sell weapons… used to kill children and kill people,” said the pontiff, in unprecedented remarks made while addressing students and teachers at Milan’s San Carlo Institute on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

He said violence-scarred countries like Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan would not be witnessing wars if it was not for the arms.

“A country that produces and sells weapons has on its conscience the death of every child and the destruction of each family,” the Pope said.

The US and major European countries, such as Britain and France, have been selling loads of weapons to Saudi Arabia and its allies, which invaded Yemen in March 2015.

US-Saudi arms deals

In March, the London-headquartered child rights advocacy group Save the Children reported that as many as 37 Yemeni children are being killed or injured by foreign bombs every month.

Violence engulfed Syria in 2011. The US and its European and regional allies began funding and offering other kinds of support to various militant and terrorist outfits in the Arab country attempting unsuccessfully to topple the Syrian government. Last December, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, said more than 21,000 children had died since the country plunged into conflict.

Under the banner of “war on terror,” the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Thousands of civilians have been killed each year since then.

Slamming walls

The Pope also spoke about the need for countries to welcome migrants, rejecting any association between migrant integration and increase in crime rates.

Foreigners are not the source of most crimes, the Pope said, adding “we also have lots of them (asylum seekers)” in Italy.

“The Mafia has not been invented by Nigerians. Mafia is ours,” he said. “All of us have the possibility of being criminal. Migrants bring us wealth because Europe has been made by migrants.”

The remarks were clear jabs at US President Donald Trump, who has banned travelers from several Muslim countries, blamed Mexican migrants for an alleged rise in crime in America, and been attempting to have incoming asylum seekers stopped at the US’s southern border through the building of physical barriers.

“Builders of walls — be they made of razor wire or bricks — will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build,” Pope Francis said last Sunday.

Presstv

Pope Francis on Thursday sent a message of peace ahead of his 2 day visit to Morocco. The head of the Vatican is the first pope to visit the north African nation in 35 years.

“ As Christians and Muslims, we believe in God the Creator and Merciful One, who has created men and women and lives on the earth so that they may live together as brothers and sisters, respecting each other’s diversity and helping each other in their need. He has entrusted the earth, our common home to them, to care for it and to preserve it for future generations “, he said.

God the Creator and Merciful One, who has created men and women and lives on the earth so that they may live together as brothers and sisters, respecting each other’s diversity.

The pope added he will “encourage the Progress of the Christian community and to meet the migrants who represent a call to build a world of greater justice and solidarity’‘.

Pope Francis will be welcomed by some 30,000 Roman Catholics in Morocco, who are mostly sub-Saharan African students or migrants heading for Europe.

He will hold a mass in Rabat on Sunday and 10,000 faithfuls are expected to attend.

Ahead of the Pope’s visit, the Christian Moroccan Coordination said ‘’ we dream of a free Moroccan morality, hoping for a “historic occasion” for Morocco to “move forward in this direction”.

AFP

Brace yourself. Tomorrow the Vatican begins a public-relations offensive in response to the sex-abuse scandal. Unless I am much mistaken, unfortunately, a public-relations effort is all that we can expect.

If the long-awaited meeting on The Protection of Minors in the Church adheres to the agenda set by the Vatican organizing committee, the event will not restore public confidence in the Catholic hierarchy. On the contrary it is very likely to do further damage to the bishops’ credibility.

The meeting, which draws together the leaders of all the world’s national bishops’ conferences, will last three days. Beyond that, not much can be predicted with any degree of certainty. Some ranking Church officials (including Pope Francis) have cautioned that we cannot expect too much from this meeting; others (including Cardinal Blase Cupich) have predicted that it could be a watershed moment.

In all likelihood the meeting will conclude with a strong statement—one more in a long line of strong statements—that the Church will not tolerate the abuse of the innocent. But the Vatican’s preparations for the meeting, with the careful delineation of subjects that will and will not be discussed, virtually guarantee that the meeting will not address the key elements of the scandal, unless some bishops deliberately break away from the carefully orchestrated program and demand a more substantive conversation. Cardinals Burke and Brandmüller plead for that sort of bold action in their last-minute appeal to the bishops who will participate in the Vatican conference.

Particularly in the United States, where the scandals of last summer outraged loyal Catholics, the results of another failed Vatican initiative could be disastrous. Bear in mind that the American bishops were poised to take action last November, to hold themselves accountable for negligence and to investigate the sources of the scandal, until their initiatives were tabled by a directive from Rome. Yet nothing on the set agenda for this 3-day meeting addresses the initiatives that the American bishops had planned to adopt.

In fact there are clear indications that the Vatican public-relations team wants to downplay American concerns. An article on the official Vatican News site, previewing the meeting, lists the stages in the universal Church’s response to the scandal without even mentioning the American bishops’ debates in 2002 or their adoption of the Dallas Charter. If any American Catholics hope that the meeting will help Vatican officials to learn from the American experience, those hopes will be dashed by a look at the prepared agenda.

Conspicuously missing from the program is any major address by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the chairman of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. It was shocking that Cardinal O’Malley was not included in the preparatory commission for the event; it is still more astonishing that he is not listed among the featured speakers.

But there is an odd sort of consistency here. Look through the web site created for this week’s meeting , and search for any mention of the commission that Cardinal O’Malley chairs. The organizers barely acknowledge the existence of this papal commission, and make no mention of the commission’s recommendations.

During the first day of the meeting, the topics for the two major presentations by ranking prelates are “Smell of the sheep” and “Church as field hospital.” Both of those titles are phrases made popular by Pope Francis; neither is particularly related to the sex-abuse scandal. On the second day, cardinals will speak on “collegiality” and “synodality.” Again, the topics are dear to the Pope, but there is no clear connection to the sex-abuse scandal.

Far more important, however, are the topics that are not on the agenda. Barring a change in plans, there will not be any discussion of:

• homosexual influence within the clergy;
• why the Vatican has eased penalties on abusive priests;
• why the Pope himself has promoted bishops accused of covering up—and in some cases actively engaging in—sexual abuse;
• canonical structures to hold bishops accountable for negligence;
• how Theodore McCarrick rose to ecclesiastical influence, and who protected him.

In short, if the Vatican organizers have their way, the meeting will not discuss the issues that must be resolved if the Church is finally to resolve the scandal. The Vatican speaks of transparency, but on the eve of the meeting, organizers refused to answer direct questions about the status of a Vatican official who has been credibly accused of abuse. The organizers speak of accountability, but will not agree to look into the actions of Vatican officials who covered up for McCarrick.

Understand this: The purpose of the meeting that opens at the Vatican tomorrow is not to begin a serious inquiry into the causes of the sex-abuse scandal. It is to prevent a serious inquiry into the causes of the scandal. Now the question is: Will it succeed?

Source: Catholic Culture.Org

Pope Francis on Sunday compared the sexual abuse of children to human sacrifice as he addressed the Catholic Church’s top bishops at the end of a landmark summit to tackle paedophilia.

“Our work has made us realise once again that the gravity of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors is, and historically has been, a widespread phenomenon in all cultures and societies,” he said.

Calling for an “all-out battle” against a crime he called abominable, the pontiff said the crime reminded him of “the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings – frequently children – in pagan rites,” he stated.

Francis was speaking after a four-day meeting which he had opened by calling for “concrete measures” on tackling priests and handing 114 senior bishops a roadmap to shape the debate on how to stop a global scandal.

Widespread abuse

“If in the Church there should emerge even a single case of abuse – which already in itself represents an atrocity – that case will be faced with the utmost seriousness”.

The ongoing scandals have hit countries around the world, with recent cases affecting Australia, Chile, Germany and the US.

Francis said those who priests who pray on children are “tools of Satan”.

“No explanations suffice for these abuses involving children,” the Argentine pontiff said.

“The echo of the silent cry of the little ones who, instead of finding in them fathers and spiritual guides encountered tormentors, will shake hearts dulled by hypocrisy and by power.

“It is our duty to pay close heed to this silent, choked cry,” he added.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)