WORLD - Vatican's status as United Nations observer questioned; other news briefs

National Catholic Reporter, May 28, 1999

Organizations call for review of Vatican's U.N. status

Family planning organizations caring for Kosovo rape victims are calling for review of the Vatican's status as a United Nations observer.

The dispute stems from the supplying of emergency contraception to refugee women who say they have been raped by Serbian troops.

The Vatican has said that issuing the "morning-after" pills to Kosovo refugee women is a form of abortion.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation and other family planning organizations have condemned the Vatican's attitude, saying it amounts to indifference to suffering. As a result, they want the Vatican's observer status at the United Nations to be looked into.

Ingar Brueggemann, director general of the Planned Parenthood Federation, said emergency contraception is not an automatic response of aid agencies but is made accessible as part of an overall health care program.

"Women would at least like to be advised whether they have the possibility to prevent a pregnancy from developing. We know that these women are desperate to be advised about what they can do," Brueggemann said.

The church has said that whether to use emergency contraceptives, which are effective only if taken within 72 hours after sexual intercourse, is too traumatizing a decision for a woman to make after an attack.

"A woman in that condition has been violated physically, psychologically and emotionally," said Nicholas Coote of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Britain. "If you are in a state of emotional pandemonium, you are not in a position to be making a fair and informed consent."

Church urged to abolish theological concept of limbo

Calls for the Catholic church to abolish the theological concept of limbo picked up after the revelation in an Italian Catholic magazine that the church secretly dropped all mention of limbo when church teachings were updated in 1992.

Letters in response to a series of articles in Avvenire wanted the church to state clearly that unbaptized children have as much right to heaven as baptized Christians.

"People wanted to know whether Limbo had been abolished and if not, why not," Roberto Beretta of Avvenire said. "This issue is a real problem for many people, particularly for those whose children die young or for young women who have abortions, which is another gray area.

"The church is stuck with a contradiction. On the one hand, it maintains that baptism is necessary for salvation. On the other, it is aware that popular sentiment believes in the utter innocence of unbaptized children and in their right to paradise. It chose simply to be silent," Beretta said.

Bishop Alessandro Maggiolini of Como, who was on the original team that edited the 1992 catechism, refused to rule out definitively the existence of Limbo.

"Certainly Limbo is not in the catechism," he said. "But equally its existence is not denied either. It's wise not to insist too much on a kind of geography of the beyond, given that we are not capable of understanding its mysteries. It's best to shut up about what we don't know about."

Australian aid workers charged with spying

Two Australian aid workers, detained in Yugoslavia since March 31 -- a week after the NATO bombing campaign began -- have been formally charged with spying.

The relief workers, Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, were working for CARE Australia when they were detained on the Yugoslavia-Austria border.

"The government is extremely disappointed by Yugoslavia's decision to indict Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace on charges of allegedly spying," Australian Foreign Minister Peter Downer said May 14. "There is no justification for the case against them."

Pratt has been charged with organizing an intelligence service, while Wallace and four unidentified others were charged with supporting an intelligence operation, Reuters reported from Canberra.

CARE said it was shocked and dismayed at Yugoslavia's decision to pursue the charges, which CARE said are totally unfounded. CARE said it feared the charges would threaten further deliveries of aid to Kosovo refugees.

"Humanitarian aid can only be delivered in an environment where the safety of aid workers is guaranteed and protected," said Charles Tapp, CARE Australia's top executive, in a statement issued in London.

"If aid organizations cannot guarantee the safety of their own staff, it is difficult to see how they can continue to operate," he said.

Document asks Christians to accept pope's authority

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission released a document asking Christians to recognize the universal role of the pope as "a gift to be received by all the churches."

The 43-page document, called "The Gift of Authority," said the pope had a "specific ministry concerning the discernment of troth." The document is not an authoritative declaration from either church, but is meant as a study paper for both.

The archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, urged the world's 70 million Anglicans to read the document.

"Christians need urgently to be able to speak with a common voice, confident of the authority of the gospel of peace,' Carey said. "I commend the text to all Anglicans for the most serious consideration and debate."