Angelus News | March 22, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 6

WORLD
■ Do conclaves need to slow down?
A Church historian has proposed slowing down the conclave
process for electing future popes to protect against the
perils of the Information Age.
In a February 2024 essay in the Italian periodical Il Mulino,
Alberto Melloni makes the case that papal elections should
cut the number of daily votes from four to one. If no person
receives the mandatory two-thirds vote to elect a new pontiff,
the cardinals would then recess for a day for conversation
and prayer before casting another vote.
Melloni claims that modern developments like artificial
intelligence, mass computing power, and social media make
it easier for accusations against public figures to emerge
on a mass scale. A slower conclave, he argues, would allow
for greater time to protect against the election of a prelate
connected to clerical abuse scandals by guaranteeing “time
for conversation and discussion” among cardinals and giving
candidates more freedom to withdraw from consideration.
■ France enshrines constitutional
right to abortion
France’s Catholic bishops called for prayer and fasting after
it became the first country to enshrine a right to abortion
into its constitution.
Passed in a 780 to 72 vote by both houses of Parliament
March 4, the amendment states that women have “guaranteed
freedom” to abort. The change does not expand current
abortion regulations in France, where it is free of charge and
allowed up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Pro-life leaders have warned that the constitutional language
protecting abortion could lead to legal clashes with
other rights.
Lucie Pacherie, a lawyer for the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation,
told OSV News that the amendment elevated the right
to abortion “to a higher level than other freedoms, such as
freedom of conscience or freedom of expression” recognized
by the country’s judiciary.
Women attend a demonstration against abortion and euthanasia in Versailles, France,
on March 4. | GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
■ A priest and his phone
bring peace to Mexican city
A Catholic priest helped end nearly 10 days of gang terror
in Chilpancingo, Mexico, with a phone call.
The city in the state of Guerrero had been living in fear
after rival gangs attacked and killed seven bus drivers. Then,
in early February, Father José Filiberto Velázquez, leader of
the nearby Human Rights Center Minerva Bello, got the
gang leaders together on the phone.
“I saw a possibility
to put them in
contact to solve
their dispute and I
did it,” Velázquez
said. “Both parties
were willing to
talk and both of
them trusted in
the process.”
Velázquez is
part of a national
program, National
Dialogue for
Peace, that was
launched following
the murder of
two Jesuit priests
in 2022. The
movement looks to
leverage Christian
and nongovernmental
networks
to reduce violence
in the country.
Father José Filiberto Velázquez. | FACEBOOK
■ Finland study: Gender transition
doesn’t lead to less suicide
Transgender drugs or surgeries do not appear to remedy
mental health problems in youth, a study from Finland
found.
“[The research] does not support the claims that [gender
reassignment] is necessary in order to prevent suicide,” the
researchers wrote in the study, published by peer-reviewed
journal BMJ Mental Health. “[Gender reassignment] has
also not been shown to reduce even suicidal ideation, and
suicidal ideation is not equal to actual suicide risk.”
The study argued that, though the suicide rates of adolescents
with gender identity struggles are higher than
the general population, they commonly suffer from other
underlying psychological problems. The researchers also
found that suicide remained “rare” among adolescents who
sought psychiatric help, regardless of whether they received
such drugs or surgeries.
4 • ANGELUS • March 22, 2024