Author: Catholic News Agency

Adam Smith-Connor was fined for “praying for [his] son, who is deceased” near an abortion facility in Bournemouth, England. / ADF UK

Denver, Colo., Jan 22, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).

Amid continuing controversy over strict limits on behavior outside abortion clinics in some English cities, a man faces a fine for praying silently outside one clinic in memory of his dead son.

“I would never have imagined being in a position to risk a criminal record for praying silently,” Adam Smith-Connor said, according to the legal group supporting him, Alliance Defending Freedom UK.

Smith-Connor had approached a British Pregnancy Advisory Service abortion facility in Bournemouth, in the southwest English county of Dorset. He intended to pray for his unborn son, who had died in an abortion he helped procure at a similar facility more than two decades ago.

Smith-Connor stood silently with his back to the clinic to respect the privacy of staff and visitors, according to Alliance Defending Freedom UK. Community safety officers inquired about what he was doing, and Smith-Connor replied: “Praying for my son, who is deceased.”

His Nov. 24, 2022, encounter with the officers was recorded on his phone. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” one officer replied. “But ultimately, I have to go along with the guidelines of the Public Space Protection Order, to say that we are in the belief that therefore you are in breach of clause 4a, which says about prayer, and also acts of disapproval …”

“I’m just standing praying,” Smith-Connor said.

“I do understand that. But the (protection order) is in place for a reason and we have to follow through on those regulations,” the officer replied. 

A protection order is intended to stop anti-social behavior. The protection order for the abortion clinic has been in force since Oct. 13, 2022, and will remain in place for three years.

As part of the order, the Council of Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole has drawn red lines around an abortion provider and designated the area a “safe zone.” Anyone caught blessing themselves with the sign of the cross, reciting Scripture, or sprinkling holy water behind these red lines can be fined £100 (about $113) or risk a court conviction. The order bars engaging in an act or an attempted act of approval or disapproval of abortion services.

Smith-Connor faces a fine based on his statement that he was praying for his deceased son. A legal team with the support of Alliance Defending Freedom UK is challenging the fine.

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom UK, objected to the action against Smith-Connor.

“Nobody should be criminalized for what they believe — especially not when they express that belief silently, in the privacy of their own minds,” Igunnubole said.

The attorney compared the case to that of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was arrested in Birmingham Dec. 6, 2022, for standing still and praying silently outside an abortion facility, which was closed at the time. Vaughan-Spruce, 45, faces four counts of violating that city’s protection order. 

Like her, Igunnubole said, O’Connor-Smith “could now face prosecution for holding thoughts, and lifting those thoughts to God in prayer, within a censorship zone. The rapid proliferation of orders criminalizing volunteers such as Adam and Isabel should be a wake-up call to all those who value freedom of expression — even freedom of thought — no matter their views on abortion.”

Grieving an aborted son

Smith-Connor said he stood outside the clinic due to his own personal experience with abortion.

“Twenty-two years ago I drove my ex-girlfriend to a facility and paid for her to have an abortion. It was a pivotal moment in my life,” he said. “The consequences of my actions that day came back to grieve me years later when I realized I had lost my son Jacob to an abortion I had paid for.”

He said he “prayed to God for my son Jacob, for other babies who have lost their lives to abortion, for their grieving families, and for abortion clinic staff.”

“In the past, I assisted with abortions in hospital as part of my army medical training, but now I pray for those who perform abortions because I realize how harmful abortion is to women and families and that every single human life is valuable — no matter how small,” he said. “Most of all, I’m moved to pray because of what happened to my son, Jacob.”

Legislators in the U.K. Parliament have introduced a proposal to create similar zones near abortion clinics across England and Wales.

The faithful venerate a relic of Blessed Rosario Livatino at the Church of San Salvatore in Lauro, Italy, Jan. 20, 2023. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jan 20, 2023 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

The shirt worn by Blessed Rosario Livatino when he was murdered by the Mafia in Sicily in 1990 was displayed in churches and government buildings in Rome this week.

Livatino was beatified in 2021 in Agrigento, Sicily, after Pope Francis declared him a martyr for his death on Sept. 21, 1990, at the age of 37.

While driving toward the Agrigento courthouse where he had been working as a judge, Livatino’s car was hit by another car, sending him off the road. While the young magistrate ran from the crashed vehicle into a field, he was brutally shot in the back and then killed by further gunshots.

The blood-stained shirt the Catholic lawyer and magistrate was wearing that day is now preserved as a relic and has been brought from Sicily to Rome to be temporarily displayed for veneration.

The relic, which arrived in Rome on Jan. 13, has been solemnly exposed for veneration in several Catholic parishes and universities, as well as Italy’s Parliament, Supreme Court building, Superior Council of the Judiciary, the Ministry of Grace and Justice, and the Municipality of Rome.

On Jan. 18–19 the shirt was at a Catholic church inside the headquarters of the Italian financial police, where Commanding General Andrea De Gennaro and Archbishop Santo Marcianò, head of the Military Ordinariate for Italy, participated in a conference on “Livatino, pilgrim of justice and faith.”

On Friday, the Church of San Salvatore in Lauro welcomed the relic for a few hours with a ceremony and Mass celebrated by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura.

The final stop in the relic’s journey will be Jan. 21 at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and of the Martyrs, a 15th-century church built inside the ruined frigidarium of the Roman Baths of Diocletian.

Blessed Rosario Livatino worked as a prosecutor in Sicily dealing with the criminal activity of the Mafia throughout the 1980s. He confronted what Italians later called the “Tangentopoli,” the corrupt system of Mafia bribes and kickbacks given for public works contracts.

At the age of 37, he served as a judge at the Court of Agrigento, where he always treated the accused with kindness.

Livatino was also known to have a strong devotion to and knowledge of Scripture. After his death, a Bible full of notations was found in his office desk, where he always kept a crucifix.

The pilgrimage of Livatino’s relic in Rome happened to coincide with the arrest of one of Italy’s most wanted mafiosi, Matteo Messina Denaro, on Jan. 16.

Messina Denaro, a notorious boss connected to the Sicilian Mafia group Cosa Nostra, was arrested in Palermo after nearly three decades in hiding.

The cuddly bear commemorating the late Pope Benedict XVI, created by the Coburg, Bavaria, company Hermann Teddy Fabrik in Germany. / Credit: www.teddy-fabrik.de

CNA Newsroom, Jan 20, 2023 / 09:15 am (CNA).

A traditional toy manufacturer in the picturesque Bavarian town of Coburg has produced two limited editions of its iconic teddy bears in honor of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The family-run Hermann Teddy Fabrik made only 265 of each edition because “Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th pope in history since Peter,” reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, on Jan. 20.

The larger toy of the two toys commemorating the pontiff is dressed in a white cape, wears a zucchetto on his head, and sports a lurex gold sash. The cuddly toy is selling for about $215 and comes with a pectoral cross — attached to a cord decorated with Swarovski crystals.

The hand-stuffed bear is delivered together with a card from 2005 with a picture of the papal teddy bear, “which was presented and issued by us for the enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005,” the company said.

The bigger Benedict bear also features the popular “growling voice” the toys make when cuddled. Hermann published an audio recording of the iconic sound on its website.

The smaller edition of the Benedict bear is stuffed with cotton instead of wood shavings, making it somewhat cuddlier.

Selling for about $53, it comes with a small scroll on which “a true story about the childhood of Benedict XVI, told in the style of the childhood memories of George Ratzinger, the brother of Pope Benedict XVI,” is written.

The scroll tells the “true story” of how a 2-year-old Joseph Ratzinger, growing up in rural Bavaria, always wanted a teddy bear he saw in a local toymaker’s shop window. The little boy was devastated to see the toy had disappeared just before Christmas — only to discover the Christ Child had left it under the Christmas tree for him a few days later.

The Bavarian toymaker has produced a variety of teddy bears commemorating “popes, saints, and religious,” CNA Deutsch reported, including St. John Paul II and Pope Francis as well as St. Teresa of Calcutta. For fans of the legendary Swiss Guard, there is a teddy bear version complete with the iconic halberd — and also two models of a certain German monk by the name of Martin Luther.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95. He was supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013.

Blessed Rosario Livatino. / Credit: Episcopal Conference of Sicily

CNA Newsroom, Jan 19, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin highlighted the importance of legality and justice and cited the exemplary witness of Blessed Rosario Livatino, a judge who was murdered by the Italian Mafia.

The cardinal made his remarks at a conference held Jan. 18 in the Italian Senate on the continued relevance of the life of Blessed Rosario Livatino. 

Parolin noted that Livatino is “a marvelous figure” because “he was an integral Christian who knew how to fully live his faith in the exercise of a particularly delicate profession such as that of the judiciary, conforming his interpretation and application of justice to Christian principles.”

Referring to the assassination of Livatino at age 37, Parolin said that his life “was not in vain,” because “every gesture of generosity, every act of love, every offering of one’s life, every sacrifice made in the name of the Lord is always rewarded and bears fruit.”

The cardinal said that this Italian Blessed can be a model for judges, since he knew how to unite justice and charity by placing “the person at the center.”

Justice is “also an effort made by the state and the community to be able to rehabilitate” all those who have joined the ranks “of delinquency and criminality,” Parolin observed.

Brief biography

Rosario Angelo Livatino was born Oct. 3, 1952, in the town of Canicattì on the island of Sicily. He decided to follow the same career as his father and entered the School of Jurisprudence in Palermo. He finished his law studies with top grades at the age of 22.

On Aug. 21, 1989, he was appointed judge of the prevention section of the Agrigento provincial court. In that position, he was in charge of several proceedings against members of the Mafia sentenced to life imprisonment.

On Sept. 21, 1990, Livatino was intercepted by four individuals while he was driving his car. In the midst of the shooting, he managed to get out of the car and tried to run. Badly wounded, he got to the side of the road and one of the assassins approached to finish him off. The man who finally ended the judge’s life was Gaetano Puzzangaro, who provided one of the testimonies for the jurist’s cause for beatification.

After Livatino’s death, a Bible full of notes was found on his desk, where he always kept a crucifix.

In December 2020, Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of Rosario Angelo Livatino, and he was beatified on May 9, 2021, in the Sicilian city of Agrigento.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, gives a reading during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on Sept.19, 2022, in London. / Photo by Ben Stansall — WPA Pool/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 19, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

The bishops of the Church of England plan to maintain a prohibition on same-sex marriage but intend to add certain prayers that would allow same-sex couples to have a ceremony to recognize stages within a same-sex relationship.

A series of proposals will be debated and considered at the Church of England’s General Synod, which will meet in London from Feb. 6 until Feb. 9. The proposals uphold the traditional Christian teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman and that members of the clergy cannot preside over same-sex marriage ceremonies.

“The formal teaching of the Church of England as set out in the canons and authorized liturgies — that Holy Matrimony is between one man and one woman for life — would not change” under the proposals, the bishops announced earlier this week.

The Church of England was established in 1534 when King Henry VIII renounced the authority of the papacy after the Catholic Church refused to grant him an annulment. The church is part of the Anglican communion and is not in communion with the Catholic Church.

Church of England leaders met with other members of the Anglican communion last summer at the Lambeth Conference, in which the hierarchy discussed questions related to sexuality and same-sex marriage. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the senior bishop of the Church of England, concluded that the majority of the clergy affirms the teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman, though some members disagree.

However, the proposals would substantially change the Church of England’s pastoral approach for how it handles same-sex attraction and same-sex relationships. The proposals would add certain prayers that could be used in ceremonies to celebrate certain stages in their same-sex relationships, such as civil partnerships or legally recognized civil marriages.

The draft prayers would be optional for same-sex couples and optional for members of the clergy. The Church of England would also allow flexibility for the new prayers that would allow members of the clergy to use different combinations of prayers to reflect the diversity of thought on these issues within the church. The prayers would be known as “Prayers of Love and Faith.” The changes are partially based on feedback the Church of England received through its six-year-long Living in Love and Faith project, which sought to look into questions related to sexuality and marriage.

“I would like to thank all those across the Church of England who have participated in this deeply prayerful and theologically grounded process of discernment over the last six years,” Archbishop Welby said in a statement. “This response reflects the diversity of views in the Church of England on questions of sexuality, relationships, and marriage — I rejoice in that diversity and I welcome this way of reflecting it in the life of our church. I am under no illusions that what we are proposing today will appear to go too far for some and not nearly far enough for others, but it is my hope that what we have agreed will be received in a spirit of generosity, seeking the common good.”

The archbishop added that he hopes these changes would demonstrate that the Church of England believes that all Christians, especially those with same-sex attraction, are welcome and valued in the Body of Christ.

According to the announcement, the proposals are meant to “reaffirm a commitment to” the bishops’ call at the start of the discernment process for a “radical new Christian inclusion founded in Scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology, and the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it — based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and in a proper 21st century understanding of being human and of being sexual.”

Some members of the Church of England’s clergy have come out against the traditional Christian teachings on marriage in recent years. This has included some members of the church leadership, such as Bishop of Oxford Steven Croft, who said about two months ago that members of the clergy should be allowed to celebrate same-sex marriages.

The relaxed and sometimes ambiguous position on certain moral issues, such as same-sex relationships by members of the Anglican hierarchy, has led to some bishops converting to Catholicism over the past decade and a half. Since 2007, at least 19 bishops left Anglicanism and came into full communion with Rome.

During Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, the Church of England established the personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, which eased the conversion process. Clergy who wish to convert can maintain certain Anglican liturgical practices and can remain married when becoming priests in the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI / Paul Badde/EWTN

CNA Newsroom, Jan 19, 2023 / 08:40 am (CNA).

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has posthumously defended Christianity against claims of intolerance “in the name of tolerance.”

In a new book published in Italy, the late pontiff warns of a “radical manipulation of human beings” and “the distortion of the sexes by gender ideology” in the name of tolerance.

Rejecting the argument of a German theologian about monotheism being linked to intolerance, Benedict counters that “the authentic counterweight to every form of intolerance” is, in fact, Christ crucified.

The late pontiff’s contribution, dated December 2018, is published in a new collection of texts by the theologian pope, touted by the Italian publisher as a spiritual “quasi-testament.”

The 190-page volume is called “What is Christianity?” It contains 16 contributions, four of which were previously unpublished.

According to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, all of the texts were written after Benedict’s resignation in 2013.

Apart from his reflection on monotheism and modern intolerance against Christianity, the texts cover several other theological topics, from intercommunion to the reform of the liturgy and the Church’s dialogue with Islam.

Several of these issues have triggered vehement responses from German bishops and theologians and put the Church in Germany at odds with the Vatican — and the late pontiff.

One such virulent topic is the question of intercommunion between Protestants and Catholics — which leading German bishops have pushed for, despite Vatican objections.

The late pontiff reflects on the sacrament of the Eucharist in his essay on intercommunion. He explains why real ecumenism needs to account for the differences between Protestants and Catholics, rather than papering over these.

Responses from German circles against such explanations and his own person in the past were one reason why — according to the publisher — the pope emeritus chose to publish posthumously, and in Italian first.

null / Tudoran Andrei/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Jan 18, 2023 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

The persecution of Christians is at its highest point in three decades, according to the latest report from advocacy group Open Doors.

The World Watch List, released by Open Doors on Jan. 18, reported that, overall, the number of Christians facing persecution worldwide remained steady in 2022 at approximately 360 million.

In a list of the 50 countries with the most persecution, North Korea returned to the first spot in 2022. The year prior, Afghanistan had landed in the top ranking following the Taliban’s takeover of the country’s government.

Afghanistan ranks ninth in the latest list because the country’s Christians have either been killed, fled, or are in strict hiding, according to Open Doors’ Italian director Cristian Nani.

The few Christians who remain in Afghanistan are living like the early Church, Nani said at a Jan. 18 presentation of the World Watch List at Italy’s Chamber of Deputies. “They live the faith in secret because it’s the only way to live it in safety.”

Nani explained that today there is an increasing phenomenon of a “refugee” church, due to the number of Christians fleeing persecution.

The other countries classified as having “extreme” levels of Christian persecution this year are Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, and India.

In sub-Saharan Africa, anti-Christian violence has reached “unprecedented intensity,” the report said.

Nigeria continues to be the epicenter of massacres with 5,014 Christians killed in 2022, nearly 90% of the total number of Christians killed worldwide — 5,621.

Almost 90% of kidnappings carried out against Christians in 2022 also took place in Nigeria, where Nani said there is a kidnapping “business” taking place.

He said an all-too-common scenario is the kidnapping of a Christian man’s wife and daughters, who will frequently endure sexual violence and sex trafficking before they are released for a ransom.

In addition to its Watch List, Nani said Open Doors is working to find “radical solutions” to persecution and to help persecuted Christians find healing and forgiveness, and to “break the circle of violence.”

Andrea Benzo, special envoy for the protection of religious freedom in Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called Christian persecution not just a lack of freedom of worship but a failure of society.

He noted the popularity of the subject of “rights” in Italy and other Western countries while the human right to religious liberty is ignored.

The World Watch List also underlined continuing Christian persecution in China, which is No. 16 on the list.

China, it said, “is forging an international alliance to redefine human rights,” while more countries adopt “the Chinese model of centralized control of the freedom of religion.”

A member of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, Andrea Delmastro Della Vedove, said Italy needs to have the courage to propose the principles of religious liberty in countries where it is not properly respected.

He said the Italian government should put pressure on the international community to promote religious pluralism.

Delmastro is the president of an inter-parliamentary group for the protection of the religious freedom of Christians formed in 2019 by the right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), part of the coalition now in power in Italy.

He asked people to consider what lands on the front pages of newspapers and asked: “What could our abandoned brothers and sisters in the Middle East and China think about that?”

Pope Francis asked for prayers for persecuted Christians after his weekly public audience on Jan. 18. He said he is praying for Father Isaac Achi, a Catholic priest who died after bandits set fire to his parish rectory in northern Nigeria on Sunday.

null / Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Jan 18, 2023 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The Italian Psychoanalytic Society (SPI) has sent a letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressing “serious concerns” over the use of puberty blockers.

Sarantis Thanopulos, the president of the society, called for “rigorous scientific discussion” of gender issues in young people, noting that the “current experimentation” without careful scientific evaluation raises serious concerns.

In the letter published on the society’s website Jan. 12, Thanopulos outlined contraindications to the puberty-blocking drugs that should be seriously considered.

“The diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ in prepubescent age is based on the statements of the individuals concerned and cannot be subjected to careful evaluation while sexual identity development is still in progress,” he said.

The psychoanalyst noted that “only a minority proportion of youths who state that they do not identify with their gender confirm this position in adolescence after puberty.”

Thanopulos argued that “suspending or preventing a person’s psychosexual development pending the maturation of a stable identity definition is contradictory to the fact that this development is a central factor in the process of definition.”

“Even in cases where the declared ‘gender dysphoria’ in prepubescence is confirmed in adolescence, the stalled development cannot result in a body that is sexually different from the original one,” he said.

The SPI president offered that the Italian Psychoanalytical Society will gladly contribute to future scientific discussion of the treatment of gender issues in young people.

The Italian Psychoanalytic Society was founded in 1925 and is a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association and of the European Federation of Psychoanalysis.

In 2020, the Italian Medicines Agency made hormone replacement therapy free of charge nationwide for people who received a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria.”

Maddalena Mosconi, a psychologist who works with minors in Rome, told Elle Magazine in December 2022 her clinic has seen a surge of cases of gender incongruence in kids in recent years.

“From 2018 to 2021 we had a 315% increase in the number of tracked cases,” Mosconi said.

“The pandemic and its consequences, such as lockdown and isolation, confronted many kids with the question of ‘Who am I?’, ‘Am I a boy or a girl?’ When they come to us, a journey begins that lasts at least six months with testing and an observation period. Only after that do they start hormone therapy, we are talking about 12- [to] 13-year-old youths, with whom adolescent puberty is paused for 2–3 years, in which we continue to work with psychotherapy sessions.”

According to 2017 data from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, a person had to be at least 18 to access transgender hormone therapy in Italy.

In other EU states, the children can access transgender hormone therapy at younger ages, such as at 12 years old in the Netherlands and at 15 years old in Denmark and Slovenia.

Dr. Alessandra Fisher, an endocrinologist in Florence, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica in 2021 that according to the current guidelines in Italy hormone therapy can be started before the age of 16.

“Rather than indicating a chronological age to start hormone therapy, the guidelines recommend that sufficient cognitive maturity has been reached to understand that the effects of the treatment are only partially reversible. This maturity typically occurs at age 16 but can be reached later or earlier,” Fisher said.

null / Shutterstock

Denver, Colo., Jan 17, 2023 / 16:23 pm (CNA).

The Catholic bishops of Scotland have warned that a proposal to ban what critics characterize as gay or transgender “conversion therapy” would have “totalitarian” effects and in effect would ban mainstream religions such as Catholicism.  

Legislators, the bishops said, are in the process of drafting a bill that would “outlaw pastoral care, prayer, parental guidance and advice relating to sexual orientation, expression of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression” except for what state officials believe is “affirmative care.” 

Its definition of “conversion therapy” is so vague, the bishops warned, that the proposed law would “create a chilling effect” and could even criminalize “advice or opinion given in good faith.”

“These proposals, if passed by the Scottish Parliament, would criminalize mainstream religious pastoral care, parental guidance, and medical or other professional intervention relating to sexual orientation, unless it was approved by the State as acceptable,” the bishops warned Jan. 16.

“Priests could be banned from working in Scotland, the Church could lose its charitable status, and classroom and pastoral teachers could lose their jobs,” they said. “There would be uncertainty about the future of Catholic schools and children could be taken away from their parents. As the first educators of their children, parents alone have the right to advise and guide their children in such matters.”

The bishops stressed the need to be “pastorally sensitive” to people who identify as homosexual and that they deserve “compassion and particular care and support in the challenges that come with all that life brings them.” The bishops also backed existing legislation protecting people from physical and verbal abuse.

The Scottish government, a coalition of the Scottish National Party and the Green Party, last year pledged to ban conversion therapy with legislation “that is as comprehensive as possible” if U.K. proposals do not go “far enough.”

It appointed a group of experts to make recommendations about possible legislation. The experts included the LGBT activist group Stonewall and Dr. Susan Brown, a minister with the Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian body that has broken with historic Christian teaching on several matters of sexual morality and marriage. 

The expert group’s proposal, titled “Ending Conversion Practices,” was published in October last year. It defined “conversion practices” as “any treatment, practice, or effort that aims to change, suppress, and/or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.” It argued for a broad legal definition to cover all practices. It insisted there should be no legal exceptions. It said a person cannot consent to such practices.

The proposal argued that “conversion therapy” infringes upon individual human rights, “in particular the victim’s freedom from discrimination and freedom from non-consensual medical treatment,” the Herald Scotland reported.

It recommended criminalizing those who practice these alleged activities as well as those who promote and advertise them. Health care professionals and faith leaders involved in the practice should lose their licenses and involved charities should also face penalties, it said. Parents who promote such activities to their children could lose custody.

The proposal suggested that individuals “suppress their own identity” out of desires “to be accepted and to fit into societal norms where family, faith, and community are integral parts of life and self-identity.”

“[A]nyone who proposes this teaching to someone with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues would face sanctions,” the bishops said. “This would apply even if the person with these issues wanted help to follow Church teaching, since this law would say they cannot consent to this teaching.”

The Scottish bishops cited Pope Francis’ Jan. 9 remarks to international diplomats at the Vatican: 

“There is a risk of drifting into what more and more appears as an ideological totalitarianism that promotes intolerance towards those who dissent from certain positions claimed to represent ‘progress,’ but in fact would appear to lead to an overall regression of humanity, with the violation of freedom of thought and freedom of conscience,” the pope said.

The expert committee’s proposal, according to the Scottish bishops, “seeks to extend the scope of such legislation in a way that is gravely concerning in regard to freedom of religion and expression.”

Another body critical of the proposed ban is The Christian Institute, a nondenominational Christian charity and advocacy group.

Simon Calvert, a deputy director at the Christian Institute, warned that the proposal, if legislated, would be “the most totalitarian conversion therapy ban in the world on the people of Scotland.”

“LGBT people are rightly protected from physical and verbal abuse by existing law just like anyone else. But these proposals go much, much further,” he said in a December 2022 statement.

King’s Counsel Aidan O’Neill, writing in a legal opinion for The Christian Institute, argued the expert group’s proposal “would have the undoubted effect of criminalizing much mainstream pastoral work of churches.” O’Neill said that any proposed legislation could be challenged on the grounds it is beyond the power of the Scottish Parliament.

Calvert said government leaders should follow O’Neill’s advice.

“They may not like what Christians have to say about sexuality, or what feminists have to say about gender identity, but they can’t just criminalize opinions they don’t like,” he said.

On Tuesday the U.K. government announced it intended to introduce a conversion therapy ban to Parliament.

Biagio Conte, a lay missionary based in Palermo, is seen doing a pilgrimage in a almost deserted street on March 20, 2020, in Palermo, Italy. Conte died Jan. 12, 2023, and his Jan. 17, 2023, funeral in Palermo was attended by thousands. / Photo by Tullio Puglia/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jan 17, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Thousands of people attended the Jan. 17 funeral of Biagio Conte, the lay missionary founder of the Hope and Charity Mission who was also known as a “modern-day St. Francis.”

Corrado Lorefice, archbishop of Palermo, Italy, and primate of Sicily, was the main celebrant of the Mass, which was concelebrated by numerous bishops and priests.

The funeral was held in the Palermo cathedral, which was filled to capacity.

According to official figures, approximately 1,500 faithful were present inside the church, and at least 9,000 followed the ceremony on giant screens placed outside and around the cathedral.

In his homily, Archbishop Lorefice stressed that Conte “prayed with trust in God, who was the compass, the North Star of his existence.”

Conte, 59, died Jan. 12 from colon cancer, according to Italian religious news outlet SIR-Agenzia d’informazione.

Lorefice thanked God for the gift of Conte “to the city of Palermo, to the Church, and to the world,” because “he was a faithful lay Christian, a brother who believed in the Word of God to the end.”

The archbishop noted that Conte’s life was a “simple and powerful testimony of his clear love for the Gospel” and he fought peacefully with fasting to demonstrate that “it’s possible to combat all forms of violence, all mafia structures and forms, and not be violent.”

Father Giuseppe Vitrano highlighted the witness of Conte, who lived in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, “a land martyred by the Mafia,” adding that “the Mafia can be defeated with the sanctity of life.”

In the wake of Conte’s death, Lorefice invited people to pray and to “make concrete gestures of charity, reconciliation, and peace.”

Brief biography

Biagio Conte was born in Palermo in 1963.

At age 16, he began working at a construction company owned by his family.

He later moved to Florence and then lived as a hermit in the mountains of inland Sicily.

Later, he made a pilgrimage on foot to Assisi and his story spread throughout the media in all of Italy.

Before going to live in Africa as a missionary, Conte stopped by Palermo to say goodbye to his relatives, but when he saw the situation of the poor people in the city, he decided to stay, and in 1993 he created the Hope and Charity Mission.

From that moment on, various homes for the city’s poor were built, including a shelter for women where at least a thousand women over time have found a place to live with a roof over their heads.

Conte, often referred to as “Brother Biagio,” wore a brown robe and carried a staff and was also noted for his hunger strikes and protests asking the civil authorities to provide greater care for those in need.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.