Abortion Battle in Korea Continues

FIDES, Dec. 17—“People who are born and those about to be born have the same human dignity,” wrote Bishop Casimir Song Yul-sup, new secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, in the bishops' paper, The Catholic Times.

The Korean bishops have long struggled to change that country's extremely permissive abortion laws, which allow destruction of the unborn through all nine months of pregnancy, mirroring American law.

In Korea, some 4,000-5,000 unborn babies are killed every day, some 1.5 million a year — more than are destroyed in the United States, which has a much larger population.

In December 2000, the bishops' conference sent Korea's National Assembly a petition bearing 1.2 million signatures requesting change in the law.

The bishops intend to continue their fight, they said, because “rich or poor, born or still in the mother's womb, all human beings are equal with human dignity and created in the image of God.”

The Saintly Gaudi?

REUTERS, Dec. 11 — Artist Antoni Gaudi was neglected in his day.

The great Catalan architect and designer created some of the most interesting and innovative buildings that stand in his native Barcelona, Spain, but he died in a pauper's hospital, almost forgotten, in 1926 with his great monument, the Cathedral of the Holy Family, still unfinished.

It was ransacked and the plans for its completion destroyed by anarchists during the Spanish Civil War.

But now the cathedral is venerated as one of Barcelona's greatest landmarks, according to Reuters news service, as the Church considers Gaudi's case for beatification.

This year Barcelona has seen a variety of exhibits and conferences to mark the 150th anniversary of Gaudi's birth. His workshop has now become a shrine for religious pilgrims.

Local devotees of the master builder intend to complete what Gaudi called his “cathedral for the poor” by 2020.

Bethlehem Is Dying of Apathy

INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC NEWS, Dec. 17 — The city of Bethlehem is dying.

So say the Elizabethan Sisters of Padua, who operate the town's Caritas Baby Hospital. According to Independent Catholic News, a U.K.-based online news service, the sisters have issued the following appeal against Israeli occupation and the terrorism that brought it on:

“Bethlehem is dying, due to the apathy of the entire Christian world. … We are all being punished; we live like prisoners, like animals in a cage, fed by the humanitarian organizations.

“We are not a city of terrorists that deserve a continuous, brutal repression. We are a humiliated city, exhausted, reduced to a mortal cage, massacred by a never-ending revenge.

“A few days from Christmas, here in Bethlehem we do not know what celebrating means. Misery reigns on our desolate streets, covered in rubbish. … A few days before Christmas our best and profound sentiments have been blown away by the cold winds of war, as dead leaves.”