Spice Island bloodbath

OVER 150 Christians were slaughtered by Muslim militants in the space of one hour last week on the north Moluccan island of Halmahera. The whereabouts of a number of Christian women and children reported to have been taken hostage by the attackers after the massacre in the village of Duma, remain unknown. The Indonesian government's failure to intervene, despite the fact that Islamic militants had declared a Jihad, "holy war", against the Christians weeks before the attack, has increased fears that the militants are receiving backing from military commanders and politicians. Violence in the Moluccas islands in eastern Indonesia has sharply escalated since the arrival of more than 2000 Islamic extremists from outside the province. More than 3000 people have died and over 300,000 internally displaced since Muslim-Christian violence broke out in January 1999. Six Molucca islands are now 100 per cent Muslim. In a statement this week, auxiliary Bishop Josephus Tethool of Ambon, which covers the Moluccas, warned that there were strong indications that Muslim militants intend to expel all Christians. According to church leaders. the arrival of thousands of fighters from Java armed with standard and homemade guns produced an immediate attempt "to cleanse the Moluccas of all Christians".
Ordination
riles Rome THE UNAUTHORISED ordination of a bishop by the Chinese authorities this week has been severely criticised by the Vatican, which warned that the move posed further obstacles to church unity and Sino-Vatican relations. In a statement this week, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said church law provided for "severe sanctions" against both the bishop carrying out the ordination and the new bishop, although the ordination of Fr Matthew Cao to the bishopric of Hangzhou Diocese by the governmentcontrolled "patriotic" church was not specifically mentioned. Formed in 1957, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association rejects papal authority and elects its own bishops.
Africa
Troops out, say bishops
CATHOLIC BISHOPS last week urged the leaders of Uganda and of Rwanda to immediately repatriate their troops which have illegally occupied eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since August 1998, writes Antoine Roger Lokongo. Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala of Kampala told a national newspaper, The New Vision, that not all Ugandans and Rwandans approved of or backed their leader's military and economic dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We, the Catholic bishops of Uganda, strongly condemn the recent fighting in Kisangani between Rwandan and Ugandan troops in which more than 280 people, mainly Congolese civilians, died. "We call upon Ugandan and Rwandan authorities, both civilians and military, responsible for this terrible and unnecessary waste of lives to put an end to their adventure and to get involved in the search for a quick solution to the (border security] problem through peaceful means," Cardinal Wamala said. Asked by The Catholic Herald what he thought of the invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwandan troops, Archbishop Thaddee Ntihinyurwa of Kigali, Rwanda, acknowledged that Rwandan troops were perpetrating the massacres and killings of innocent civilians, including that of 15 women buried alive in Mwenga this year, as well as the looting of Congo's natural resources. "Although we all understand the security concerns that the Rwandan government has always invoked, our troops have gone too far in the Democratic Republic of Congo by committing massacres and atrocities against innocent civilians. They have violated the sovereignty of a neighbouring state. And that is unacceptable to anybody," he said.
Europe
School victory for pro-lifers
FRENCH pro-life groups have won their appeal against a government circular, which allowed school nurses to distribute the morning after pill to secondary school children.
Government commissioner Sophie Boissard found that the circular contravened 1967 legislation which stipulates that hormone-based contraceptives must be prescribed
by a doctor and dispensed only by pharmacies or family-planning agencies. It also conflicted with regulations governing parental authority and the school-nursing profession itself. The illegal circular was issued in January in an attempt to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies and abortions.
Sacraments linked claim FAITH IN the Eucharist should lead people to frequent confession, even when they technically are not required to go, an Austrian bishop has said. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna told the International Eucharist Congress last week that Catholics had "perhaps lost sight of the fact that Communion requires preparation". "In the strict sense," he said, the sacrament of reconciliation was necessary "only if mortal sins separate us from God and the church". But he believed that experience showed "if we neglect confession too often we run the risk of getting used to our `little' errors and sins and of not recognising them any longer". The 55-year-old cardinal and chief editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church lamented the fact that while "today frequent Communion is the practice almost everywhere, confession has disappeared almost completely". Cardinal Schonborn said television talk shows showed how deep the need people feel to confess their faults and reveal the darkest corners of their lives is. Yet while television promotes self-revelation and sometimes self-humiliation, the sacrament of reconciliation promotes healing and transformation.
Americas
Hysteria outbreak THE HEAD of the United Nation's family planning body, has accused delegates to the recent Beijing +5 women's conference of being "ideologically divisive" and desiring "the death of women". UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadik expressed disappointment at the document, which omitted a UNFPA endorsed paragraph that would have increased access to abortion and mandated that medical personnel learn abortion procedure even if it violated their consciences. Dr Sadik charged her opponents, who included the Holy See, with wanting "death, disease and suffering" for women.