Reports include – Financial giant to close Vatican bank’s account; Dutch Roman Catholic Church ‘castrated at least 10 boys’; Vatican issues ultimatum to traditionalist Catholic group; Jews of Majorca reconnect with their roots; New MAF planes to reach remote Indonesia; Morocco rally over rape-marry law; ‘Destroy all churches,’ says Saudi Arabian Islamic leader
Financial giant to close Vatican bank’s account
US banking giant JP Morgan Chase is closing the Vatican bank’s account with one of its Italian branches because of concerns about a lack of transparency at the Holy See’s financial institution, Italian newspapers have reported. The move is a blow to the Vatican’s drive to have its bank included in Europe’s “white list” of states that comply with international standards against tax fraud and money-laundering.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/financial-giant-to-close-vatican-banks-account-3054666.html
Dutch Roman Catholic Church ‘castrated at least 10 boys’
Independent.ie – At least 10 teenage boys or young men under the age of 21 were surgically castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s.
Evidence of the castrations has emerged amid controversy that it was not included in the findings of an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church last year.
The NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956, while a minor, after reporting priests to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/dutch-roman-catholic-church-castrated-at-least-10-boys-3054852.html
Vatican issues ultimatum to traditionalist Catholic group
Reuters – The Vatican on Friday told an ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic splinter group they must accept non-negotiable doctrinal principles within a month or risk a painful break with Rome that would have “incalculable” consequences. The ultimatum was issued after a two-hour meeting between Swiss-born Bishop Bernard Fellay, leader of the dissident Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and U.S. Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican’s doctrinal department.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/16/us-pope-traditionalists-idUSBRE82F10S20120316
Jews of Majorca reconnect with their roots
Members of island community forced by Spanish Inquisition to adopt Catholic faith embark on journey to discover their Jewish history. Centuries after his ancestors were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism, Antonio Pina could still find signs of his family’s Jewish origins in his grandmother’s kitchen.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4201657,00.html
New MAF planes to reach remote Indonesia
Christian Today – Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has dedicated two new aircraft for service in remote areas of Indonesia.
The Kodiak planes, which cost $1.7 million each, were given to the charity by two donors who wish to remain anonymous.
The planes will be used to transport missionaries and materials to the isolated areas of Kiwi, Bomela, Langda and Koropun, where MAF has been ministering since the 1950s.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/new.maf.planes.to.reach.remote.indonesia/29494.htm
Morocco rally over rape-marry law
BBC – Women’s rights activists in Morocco protest outside parliament to demand repeal of a law allowing rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17416426
‘Destroy all churches,’ says Saudi Arabian Islamic leader
Christian Today – Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, the highest official of religious law in the Sunni country, has reportedly declared this week that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches” in the region, implying that no other religion besides Islam will be tolarated on the Arabian Peninsula – as there are currently no churches in Saudi Arabia. Al-Asheikh made the statement Monday during a meeting with a delegation from a Kuwait-based NGO, Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage, in response to a question on what Shariah law says about building churches, according to the Arabic Christian publication, Linga.org.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/destroy.all.churches.says.saudi.arabian.islamic.leader/29484.htm