KLAK, Slovakia: A priest in the conservative Roman Catholic stronghold of Slovakia has challenged the church’s celibacy rules, voicing his dissent at a time when clerical celibacy is once again a topic of debate amid ongoing sex abuse scandals.
The Rev. Michal Lajcha has written a book in two versions — one for theologians, the other for the laity — that asserts the church would benefit greatly if married men were allowed to be ordained and celibacy were made voluntary.
In “The Tragedy of Celibacy — The Death of the Wife,” Lajcha called celibacy a “festering wound” in the church and said that making it voluntary could also help prevent sex scandals.
The title is intentionally shocking and morbid: A married man can only be ordained in the church if he is a widower.
“That’s the tragedy of celibacy, the dead wife,” Lajcha told The Associated Press in an interview. Another priest, the Rev. Peter Lucian Balaz, co-authored the version of the book for theologians.
Lajcha argues that priests simply can’t understand the troubles and worries of ordinary Catholic faithful since they inhabit such a different world.
“The mission of the church is to be close to people. But how can I be close to people when I live such a radically different life?” the 34-year-old Lajcha asked. “There’s a huge abyss between the clergy and the laypeople.”
It’s a point made recently by the Vatican’s top family official, who made headlines when he said priests have “no credibility” when it comes to training others in marriage preparation, since they have no experience.
In the popular version of the book, Lajcha writes that a priest “has no worries and also no joys as those people he should take care of spiritually.”
“It’s like the difference between being on top of Mount Everest, and hearing a story about it,” he wrote of the second-hand information priests have about the lives of their flock.
To make his point, he gives the example of the night he invited several men from his parish to watch a movie about a father who sacrifices his son to save the lives of passengers on a train. After some of the men were unable to hold back tears, Lajcha said he realized how harmful his celibacy had been for him, since he was only able to grasp “a small idea” of what it was like to be a father.
Lajcha doesn’t propose the abolition of celibacy; only to make it voluntary.
His call is shared by many in the priesthood, including clergy in Ireland, Germany and the US, and prominent lay groups. They argue that the celibate priesthood is a tradition in the church dating from the 12th century, not doctrine, and therefore can be changed.
Pope Francis has made the same point, though in the 2012 book “On Heaven and Earth,” written when he was still a cardinal, he said that “for now” he favors maintaining it.
As pope, however, he has expressed an openness to ordaining married men, particularly to respond to the shortage of priests in places like the Amazon, where the faithful can go weeks at a time without Mass.
Already, married men can be ordained as eastern rite Catholic priests, and married Anglican priests can become Catholic priests if they convert.
Francis has said he wants local bishops’ conferences to come up with proposals to address the priest shortage issue, and he has paved the way for a possible change by calling a meeting of Amazon bishops for next year and decreeing just this week that their final document could become part of official church teaching.
While addressing the priest shortage, many people who favor ending the celibacy obligation also argue that it could also address another pressing issue in the church: sex abuse.
Prominent studies have found no correlation between the church’s tradition of a celibate priesthood and the explosion of clerical sex abuse in recent decades, but some experts have long made the connection.
Most notably, the late A.W. Richard Sipe — a former US priest and psychotherapist — argued that because many priests violated their celibacy vows, the issue was mired in hypocrisy and secrecy, conditions that then allowed abuse of minors to flourish.
“It’s a paradox. The church demonizes sexuality and keeps it under cover, and at the same time there are children abused,” Lajcha said. “I’m not saying that it would stop completely if we have voluntary celibacy, but we can agree that the situation would be a bit different.”
Celibacy has returned to the forefront of church debate after a prominent US cardinal was accused of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians. The scandal has uncovered evidence of the active sex lives of priests and seminarians that has long been quietly tolerated.
Lajcha, who is trying to get funding to have his book translated before the Amazon conference, said the church would have more credibility if it allowed married priests because the faithful hardly believe “we really live the life of celibacy.” That is a reference to the widespread violation of celibacy vows in places like Africa, where there are known cases of priests having multiple children.
Lajcha points to the Rev. Rudolf Klucha, who served two mountain villages that were centers of Slovakia’s uprising against the Nazis in World War II. On Jan. 21, 1945, the Nazis rounded up 300 villagers from Klak, planning to kill them all. Klucha worked to delay the killings until the troops received a different order — to destroy the village but allow the people to live.
Klucha, he said, fathered three sons and made no secret of it. Earlier this month, Lajcha unveiled a commemorative plaque to Klucha in Klak, adding: “He saved 300 lives but still remains unrecognized only because he broke the celibacy requirement.”
Since the news about the book made local headlines last week, Lajcha said he has had to change his phone number because of negative responses from fellow priests and others. His activities are unlikely to remain unnoticed by his superiors.
Slovakia’s Conference of Bishops declined a request by the AP for comment through its spokesman Martin Kramara, and so did the diocese of Banska Bystrica, to which Lajcha’s parish belongs.
Lajcha said he was prepared to leave the church, even though the priesthood fulfills him.
“I want to have a family. This is unsustainable for me,” he told the AP.
Giving up the priesthood would be sad news for some in his flock.
“Oh, God forbid to remove him!” said Olga Zubekova, 69, who on a recent day greeted him with a friend to get a signed copy of his book.
“His Masses are nice, his preaching is nice, he gets along with everyone, he’s helpful to everyone. That would be a real shame,” she said.
Catholic priest in Slovakia challenges celibacy rules
Catholic priest in Slovakia challenges celibacy rules
- The book’s title is intentionally shocking and morbid: A married man can only be ordained in the church if he is a widower
- ‘It’s a paradox. The church demonizes sexuality and keeps it under cover, and at the same time there are children abused’
Philippine film legend Nora Aunor dies aged 71
- She was proclaimed a ‘National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts’ in 2022
- The cause of death, which took place Wednesday, was not disclosed
MANILA: Nora Aunor, considered by many Filipinos as their country’s greatest actress and singer, has died aged 71, the government and her family said Thursday.
Proclaimed a “National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts” by the Philippines in 2022, the once child snack vendor who would go on to star in 170 films will be honored with a state funeral.
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Nora Aunor, our beloved mother, celebrated television and movie actress,” her adopted daughter Lotlot de Leon announced Thursday on her Instagram page.
The cause of death, which took place Wednesday, was not disclosed.
Her first break came when cast in 1967’s “All Over the World,” a typical teen comedy of the era.
Aunor, who had a darker skin tone compared to the half-Caucasian actresses that dominated local cinema at the time — brought a relatability to audiences, earning her the nickname Ate guy, or big sister guy.
She would become a sensation as part of a studio-manufactured “love team” with actor Tirso Cruz III. Together they were known as “Guy and Pip.”
Critical acclaim followed nearly a decade later with starring roles in the dramas “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos” (Three Years Without God) and “Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo” (Once a Moth), both released in 1976.
Aunor also recorded hundreds of songs, including 1971’s “Pearly Shells,” said to be one of the Philippine’s top-selling singles ever.
On Thursday, President Ferdinand Marcos described her as “a gift to the Filipino nation,” and the government’s National Commission for Culture and the Arts said she would receive a state funeral at a date to be determined.
“Throughout her splendid career that spanned more than 50 years, she was our consummate actress, singer, and film producer,” Marcos said.
“Her golden voice was a balm for all. Her genius was a gift to the Filipino nation.”
The fourth of five children from a family in the poverty-stricken Bicol region southeast of Manila, Aunor, born Nora Villamayor, helped the family make ends meet by selling cold water and snacks at a train station.
Her grandmother taught her to sing, and at 14, she won a nationwide singing contest.
She married local actor Christopher de Leon in 1975, and the couple had one biological child and four adopted children before separating two decades later.
Aunor later immigrated to the United States, and in 2005 was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for drugs possession. She underwent a court-directed drug diversion program that kept her out of prison.
She returned to Manila in 2011 to resume her acting and singing career.
Spain police dig up underground shooting range used by gun traffickers
- Spanish officers raided a house in the southern province of Granada and found the site
- Authorities believe the site was used to test weapons that the group supplied to drug trafficking rings
MADRID: Spanish police said Wednesday they have uncovered an illegal underground firing range they suspect was operated by a weapons trafficking ring that supplied assault rifles and other arms to drug gangs.
Officers raided a house in the southern province of Granada and found the site, which was located three stories underground, said a police statement.
Neighbours could not hear guns going off because of the depth of the range, it added.
Police said it was the first time they had found a “illegal shooting range run by a criminal group” in Spain.
Authorities believe the site was used to test weapons that the group supplied to drug trafficking rings, who then used them to defend themselves or attack rival gangs.
“The operation has removed weapons from the streets that could have been used to commit extremely serious crimes,” the statement said.
Police said the group offered to sell assault rifles, submachine guns and automatic pistols, as well as ammunition, bulletproof vests and other tactical equipment.
Officers arrested three people and seized several weapons and more than 60,000 euros ($68,000) in cash. They said further arrests were possible.
Spain is a major gateway to Europe for drug trafficking networks due to its ties to former colonies in Latin America and its proximity to Morocco, a top cannabis producer.
Millions tune in for 24-hour live coverage of Sweden’s epic moose migration
- Livestream kicked off a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement
- From now until May 4, the livestream’s remote cameras will capture dozens of moose as they swim across the Ångerman River
Before Swedish slow TV hit “The Great Moose Migration” began airing Tuesday, Ulla Malmgren stocked up on coffee and prepared meals so she doesn’t miss a moment of the 20-day, 24-hour event.
“Sleep? Forget it. I don’t sleep,” she said.
Malmgren, 62, isn’t alone. The show, called “Den stora älgvandringen” in Swedish, and sometimes translated as “The Great Elk Trek” in English, began in 2019 with nearly a million people watching. In 2024, the production hit 9 million viewers on SVT Play, the streaming platform for national broadcaster SVT.
The livestream kicked off a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement. Malmgren was ready.
From now until May 4, the livestream’s remote cameras will capture dozens of moose as they swim across the Ångerman River, some 300 kilometers (187 miles) northwest of Stockholm, in the annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures.
Not much happens for hours at a time, and fans say that’s the beauty of it.
“I feel relaxed, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s a moose. Oh, what if there’s a moose? I can’t go to the toilet!’” said William Garp Liljefors, 20, who has collected more than 150 moose plush toys since 2020.
Slow TV success
“The Great Moose Migration” is part of a trend that began in 2009 with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK’s minute-by-minute airing of a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country.
The slow TV style of programming has spread, with productions in the United Kingdom, China and elsewhere. The central Dutch city of Utrecht, for example, installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets livestream viewers alert authorities to fish being held up as they migrate to spawning grounds.
Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jönköping University in Sweden, said slow TV has roots in reality television but lacks the staging and therefore feels more authentic for viewers. The productions allow the audience to relax and watch the journey unfold.
“It became, in a strange way, gripping because nothing catastrophic is happening, nothing spectacular is happening,” she said. “But something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment.”
As an expert and a fan of “The Great Moose Migration,” Hill said the livestream helps her slow down her day by following the natural rhythms of spring.
“This is definitely a moment to have a calm, atmospheric setting in my own home, and I really appreciate it,” she said.
Nature in your living room
The calming effect extends to the crew, according to Johan Erhag, SVT’s project manager for “The Great Moose Migration.”
“Everyone who works with it goes down in their normal stress,” he said.
The moose have walked the route for thousands of years, making it easy for the crew to know where to lay some 20,000 meters (almost 12 miles) of cable and position 26 remote cameras and seven night cameras. A drone is also used.
The crew of up to 15 people works out of SVT’s control room in Umeå, producing the show at a distance to avoid interfering with the migration.
SVT won’t say how much the production costs, but Erhag said it’s cheap when accounting for the 506 hours of footage aired last year.
Erhag said Swedes have always been fascinated by the roughly 300,000 moose roaming in their woods. The Scandinavian country’s largest animal is known as “King of the Forest.” A bull moose can reach 210 centimeters (6 feet 10 inches) at shoulder height and weigh 450 kilograms (992 pounds).
Despite their size, the herbivores are typically shy and solitary.
“We actually don’t see it very often. You often see it when you’re out driving maybe once or twice in your life,” Erhag said. “I think that’s one thing why it has been so, so popular. And then you bring in the nature to everyone’s living room.”
Hanna Sandberg, 36, first began watching the show in 2019, though she didn’t spot any moose. She tuned in the following year, finally saw some and got hooked.
“You can watch them and be a part of their natural habitat in a way that you could never be otherwise,” she said.
Moose mega-fans
After hours of showing an empty forest, a camera captures footage of a moose approaching the riverbank. Suddenly, slow TV turns urgent.
The push alert hits SVT’s app — “Första älgarna i bild!” which translates to “First moose on camera!” — as viewers worldwide tune in. The livestream’s chat explodes as commenters type encouragement for the animal, now making its way into the water.
“I would actually like to be a little fly on the wall in every household that watches the moose migration. Because I think there is about a million people saying about the same thing: ‘Go on! Yes, you can do it!’” Malmgren said.
Mega-fans like Malmgren, who is in a Facebook group of 76,000-plus viewers, are committed to watching as many hours as possible. Some viewers on Tuesday posted photos of their dogs and cats staring at their televisions, enthralled by the moose on the screen.
“I was late to school because I saw moose and my teacher was like, ‘What, you saw moose in the city?’ And I was like, ‘No, it’s on the TV,’” Garp Liljefors said ahead of Tuesday’s showing.
Malmgren said friends and family have learned not to bother her when the moose are on the move.
“When someone asks me, ‘What are you doing? Oh, never mind, it’s the great migration,’” she said. “They know.”
Vespa love affair: Indonesians turn vintage scooters electric
- Indonesia has long suffered from air pollution partly driven by its addiction to inefficient, old cars and scooters, including nearly one million Vespas as of 2022
- The country’s leaders are pushing for more EVs on its roads, with a target of 13 million electric motorcycles by 2030 – ambitiously far from the current number of 160,000
JaJAKARTA: When Indonesian executive Heret Frasthio takes his antique 1957 VL Vespa for a ride, its white paint peeling off, the usual fumes and hum of the free-spirited scooters cannot be seen or heard.
The two-wheeler is just one of the vintage models converted by his company as it tries to turn a love for the Italian icon into an environmentally friendly pursuit.
Indonesia has long suffered from air pollution partly driven by its addiction to inefficient, old cars and scooters, including nearly one million Vespas as of 2022, according to the country’s Vespa Club.
“Vespa has a unique design. It has a historical and nostalgic value. It’s not just a vehicle, it’s also fashion,” said Frasthio, chief executive of Elders, which converts the older bikes into electric vehicles.
The country’s leaders are pushing for more EVs on its roads, with a target of 13 million electric motorcycles by 2030 — ambitiously far from the current number of 160,000, according to transport ministry data.
But Elders is playing its part in what the government hopes will be the early stages of an electric vehicle revolution.
Frasthio says the firm has converted and sold around 1,000 Vespas across the country since its founding in 2021 and one day aims to develop its own electric scooter.
Once converted, a Vespa’s fully charged electric battery can last 60-120 kilometers (37-74 miles), and up to 200 kilometers for an upgraded battery.
“This electric Vespa can be a solution for countries that require low emissions from motorcycles,” Frasthio said.
Yet pricing remains a major stumbling block in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
Frasthio’s proud but humble Vespa cost $34,000 to buy before conversion.
A brand-new Vespa Elettrica imported from Italy can cost 198 million rupiah ($11,750) and the European company already sells a range of electric scooters in the continent.
But for those who want to stay retro, there are kits to convert to vintage scooters to electric that cost between $1,500 and $3,900, Frasthio said.
The chance to switch is attracting customers who want a fashionable ride without contributing to noise and air pollution.
One of them is Hendra Iswahyudi, who bought a converted Vespa from Frasthio’s firm, remembering the effort of riding an old model as a student.
“You would turn on the ignition and take a shower while waiting for the engine to be ready,” the 56-year-old said.
Riding an antique Vespa from the 1960s without the pollution and the noise in Jakarta’s heavy traffic has also earned him curious looks.
“People who like Vespa came to have a closer look and told me that my scooter was very cool,” he said.
The civil servant supports the niche industry for converting scooters, despite government plans to put a new fleet of electric vehicles on the road.
“I feel comfortable riding the Vespa. I feel like I’ve contributed to the clean air,” he said.
But a yearning for the nostalgia of an original Vespa is keeping some from taking the cleaner option, instead choosing to keep the roar of an older engine.
“I prefer the authentic Vespa with its original noise because it’s what makes it unique. You can hear it coming from afar,” said Muhammad Husni Budiman, an antique Vespa lover.
“It’s classic and nostalgic.”
The 39-year-old entrepreneur fell in love with antique Vespas when he was young and started to collect some from the 1960s and 70s.
In 2021, he established a Jakarta-based club for Vespas produced in the 1960s that now boasts hundreds of members.
Despite trying an electric Vespa, Budiman’s club is mainly for those who love original models.
Frasthio is conscious that some Vespa lovers like Budiman will be hesitant about the EV uptake.
But he was quick to dispel the theory that his company was putting the conventional scooters they adore in a bad light.
“We are not trying to lecture anyone about pollution issues,” he said.
“We are just offering, for those not used to manual motorcycles, that electric motorbikes can be a solution.”
Ant smugglers arrested in Kenya as government warns of changing trafficking trends
- Two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi
- Kenya has in the past fought against the trafficking of body parts of larger species of wild animals
NAIROBI: Two Belgian teenagers were charged Tuesday with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser known species.
Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal.
In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis Ng’ang’a and Vietnamese Duh Hung Nguyen also were charged with illegal trafficking in the same courtroom, following their arrest while in possession of 400 ants.
The Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS, said in a statement that the four men were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-colored harvester ant native to East Africa.
The illegal export of the ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over its biodiversity but also deprives local communities and research institutions of potential ecological and economic benefits,” KWS said.
Kenya has in the past fought against the trafficking of body parts of larger species of wild animals such as elephants, rhinos and pangolins among others. But the cases against the four men represent “a shift in trafficking trends — from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species,” KWS said.
The two Belgians were arrested in Kenya’s Nakuru county, which is home to various national parks. The 5,000 ants were found in a guest house where they were staying, and were packed in 2,244 test tubes that had been filled with cotton wool to enable the ants to survive for months.
The other two men were arrested in Nairobi where they were found to have 400 ants in their apartments.
Kenyan authorities valued the ants at 1 million shillings ($7,700). The prices for ants can vary greatly according to the species and the market.
Philip Muruthi, a vice president for conservation at the Africa Wildlife Foundation in Nairobi, said ants play the role of enriching soils, enabling germination and providing food for species such as birds.
“The thing is, when you see a healthy forest, like Ngong forest, you don’t think about what is making it healthy. It is the relationships all the way from the bacteria to the ants to the bigger things,” he said.
Muruthi warned of the risk of trafficking species and exporting diseases to the agricultural industry of the destination countries.
“Even if there is trade, it should be regulated and nobody should be taking our resources just like that,” he said.
