Gloria.TV News on the 17th of February 2016
Praising the Wrong People: On Monday Pope Francis visited the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. In the cathedral of San Cristóbal he prayed at the tomb of much praised bishop Samuel Ruiz García, an adherent of liberation theology, which is more interested in leftwing politics than in religion. The consequences of this are now visible. Two-thirds of Chiapas' population used to be Catholic, but now Protestant sects have moved in and made Chiapas Mexico's least-Catholic region.
Why? In January Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, London, claimed that it can take just one month to bring a teenage student to the point of being willing to leave all for the sake of ISIS, their newfound cause. This is the reply Nichols got from social media Catholics: “So why are we so unsuccessful in radicalising a child in Catholic schools over eleven or so years.”
Abuse Hysteria: Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon in France may be retiring soon. The reason: a cooked up abuse scandal of which he is perfectly innocent. The case is about a priest who allegedly abused minors between 1975 and 1991. Barbarin was appointed to Lyon more than ten years later. He explained that he heard rumors in around 2008, but never had any concrete complaint. He confronted the priest who denied any wrongdoing and Barbarin was unable to proceed any further. Nevertheless, a speaker of the archdiocese did not exclude that he could resign over the case.
Religion Malls: In Singapore it is expensive to rent a location so different religious groups, especially the small ones, unite under one roof. In Geylang, a neighborhood of Singapore there is a center that accommodates to Christian churches, three Buddhist groups and one Taoist community. Each group is on a different floor.