Articles for Month: April 2006

By John-Henry Westen   VATICAN, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an ancient practice, Catholics around the world are often reminded to pray “for the intentions of the Holy Father”. Every month, the Pope releases prayer intentions (usually two) asking the Church to focus on specific needs.   One of the prayer intentions for the month of May, which were released today by the Vatican Information Service, asks the Church to pray for legal protection for life from conception till natural death. “That in the mission countries those responsible for the public institutions may,” said the official text, “with suitable […]

WESTMINISTER, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nearly 72,000 letters expressing concern at plans to legalise assisted suicide were delivered to members of the House of Lords today. It is believed that this is one of the biggest ever concerted efforts to lobby peers by letter.   Those delivering the letters included doctors, nurses, care workers and people who have had personal experience of being with family or friends suffering from terminal illness. One letter writer, Dr Bernarda Sekolec, aged 94 of Chingford, wrote: ” My fear now is that this Bill will open the floodgates for people in my current […]

by Hilary White ARLINGTON, Va. April 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Concerned Women for America has highlighted the case of a Christian business that has been ordered to produce material that supports homosexual activity. An Arlington Va. video duplicator has been ordered by the Arlington County Human Rights Commission to produce video material for a lesbian activist. The video duplicator, Bono Film and Video, cited the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of religion to defend his decision to refuse business to lesbian activist, Lillian Vincenz. The proprietor, Tim Bono, argued that he could not, in conscience, produce material that promoted homosexual […]

by Hilary White BEIJING, April 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Epoch Times International, a New York based online journal specializing in China and related issues, has confirmed through independent investigation that the Chinese communist government has been using prisoners as a source of organs for the international and domestic transplant market. The report verifies that organs for transplantation are very plentiful and available on demand in China and are supplied from prisoners. The prisoners are killed after they are found to match a patient who is awaiting a donor organ. Reporter Dominic Waghorn visited the Orient Organ Transplantation Center in […]

By Gudrun Schultz HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Kentucky, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A literature professor and six students at Northern Kentucky University have been charged with criminal mischief and theft, after a campus pro-life display was vandalized on April 12. Professor Sally Jacobsen is also facing a charge of criminal solicitation for allegedly encouraging her students to destroy the display, reported the Associated Press yesterday. Four hundred white crosses, intended to represent a graveyard for aborted babies, were torn up and dumped in school garbage cans. A photo published in the online edition of the campus newspaper, The Northerner, showed Jacobsen […]

By Gudrun Schultz MANAGUA, Nicaragua, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new proposal to allow therapeutic abortion is being considered by the National Assembly of Nicaragua. The proposal would change the country’s Penal Code to legalize abortions. Efforts to bring easy abortion access into the country have been fuelled by feminist groups, who used the highly publicized case of a nine-year-old girl made pregnant by rape in 2003, to push for changes to the law. The child was eventually given an abortion despite the illegality of the procedure. Bishop Juan Abelardo, president of the Bishops’ Committee on Family Ministry, published […]

By Gudrun Schultz BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An ongoing struggle in a Boston suburb over homosexual material in elementary classrooms has culminated in a lawsuit between parents and the school system. David and Tonia Parker, and Rob and Robin Wirthlin are suing the town of Lexington and its public school system after their children were given books normalizing gay families. Attempts to reach a compromise with the school failed after officials refused to agree to the parents request that their young children be exempted from homosexual material and discussions in the classroom. The parents decided on a […]

By John-Henry Westen VATICAN, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a message to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI noted “we are witnessing on a planetary level, and in the developed countries in particular, two significant and interconnected trends: on the one hand, an increase in life expectancy, and, on the other, a decrease in birth rates.” He added, “As societies are growing older, many nations or groups of nations lack a sufficient number of young people to renew their population.” While he admitted that the cause of the troublesome situation is “complex” he stressed that […]

Amnesty International Considers Pushing Enforcement of Abortion as Human Righthttps://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06042511.html District resurrects ‘Christmas’ vacationhttps://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49930 Iran clergy angry over women fanshttps://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4947508.stm Polish TV to ban erotic ads during pope’s visithttps://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006/04/26/story_26-4-2006_pg9_5 More Liberal last minute pay-offs discoveredhttps://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/04/25/1549993-cp.html Bishop in Croatia seeks a bikini ban- Ivan Kordic, bishop of Krk island, said “scarcely dressed” people “harm the morale, the spirit and the soul”https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2006-04-25-croatia-bikinis_x.htm Illinois Gov. Blagojevich Awards $5Million in Taxpayer Dollars for Embryonic Stem Cell Researchhttps://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-060424stemcell25,1,7336518.story?coll=chi-business-hed Experts ponder France’s high birth ratehttps://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=625012006 True Lies — The Myths That Hollywood Tellshttps://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=92&art_id=32765 Freezing of embryos, an offense against the respect due to human beings, says […]

ORLANDO, FL, April 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Public displays of the Ten Commandments have enjoyed unprecedented favor in both the courts and the legislatures since the two Ten Commandments cases were argued at the Supreme Court last year. Last week, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue signed a bill that permits the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. House Bill 941 says that the “Foundations of American Law and Government” display shall include: The Mayflower Compact, The Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence, Magna Charta, Star-Spangled Banner, National Motto, Preamble to the Georgia Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Lady […]