Category Archives: Euthanasia

Two dog sisters who raised 13 puppies together while living on the streets are facing an uncertain future after failing to be adopted.

Staff at the Special Needs Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation (SNARR) Northeast in Brewster, New York, took to Facebook to appeal for help in finding a new home for Ella and Emma.

"We're on the brink of despair for Ella and Emma, two sister dogs whose lives have been filled with nothing but hardship and pain," the appeal read.

Lauren F from SNARR Northeast told Newsweek: "They were found as strays wandering the busy, relentless streets of Houston with their combined 13 puppies. The shelter staff couldn't even tell the litters apart. All the puppies were nursed by both moms and both of them cared for them."

The canine siblings ended up in an overcrowded city shelter, where they were ultimately saved from near-certain death by SNARR Northeast. "They were 30 minutes away from being walked back to bay dock, where they euthanize at this kill shelter," Lauren F. said.

Little is known about their life before the shelter, though Ella, in particular, has endured a torrid time. She has already lost one limb due to a gruesome injury and was later discovered to be struggling with an undiagnosed megaesophagus. This is a disorder affecting the esophagus, which made it difficult for her to eat food.

Yet, through their time on the streets, both Emma and Ella worked hard to provide for the puppies that relied on them to survive. "They selflessly raised their pups while going hungry themselves, and now they're facing a cruel twist of fate," SNARR said.

Because while each of their young puppies has now been adopted into new and loving homes, Ella and Emma have been left behind, waiting and hoping that someone will take a chance on them.

Lauren F. added: "They haven't been adopted yet because, unfortunately, not everyone is looking for two adult dogs, especially one with medical needs."

Ella and Emma's plight is a painfully familiar one. While young puppies tend to be snapped up by shelter visitors, it's a different story for adult dogs.

It is a situation that a 2015 study conducted by Priceonomics previously highlighted. Based on data compiled from the website Petfinder, the researchers found that, while 95 percent of puppies listed for adoption ended up finding new homes, just 68 percent of senior dogs had the same success.

Emma and Ella come as a pair but, without finding a home, they would have to remain at the SNARR shelter indefinitely. Lauren F. said, though, that they have all the qualities needed to make great pets and just need to find the right kind of owner.

"Ella and Emma are sweet girls who would do best in a home with a patient adopter," she added. "It takes them time to trust. Once they do, belly rubs and cuddles are their favorite things. They would love to be your only dogs. They thrive on all the love you can give."

After spending so much of their lives without the love and affection afforded to so many dogs, Ella and Emma deserve a chance at a peaceful life. They just need someone to give it to them.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Sister Dogs and Their Puppies Spared Euthanasia Face 'Cruel Twist ... - Newsweek

A French woman who was suffering agonies after doctors implanted vaginal mesh has died of euthanasia in Belgium.

In 2019 a woman named lodie was fitted with the product after bearing two children. It would supposedly help with incontinence and prolapse. But from the moment she woke up after the operation, She felt that her pelvis had been torn apart, like a collapse from the inside, her husband Thomas wrote in Le Parisien on November 10. She began to get painful infections.

The use of vaginal mesh was restricted in France three months after lodies operation.

An American surgeon removed the mesh, but the pain continued. In despair, lodie sought euthanasia in Belgium. Her husband acquiesced although he tried to persuade her not to take this drastic step. She died on August 23.

Requests for euthanasia after physician error and botched operations are a neglected area for research. It has happened before. In 2012 a 44-year-old Belgian woman named Ann G was suffering from anorexia. Her psychiatrist, a man with an international reputation as an expert in anorexia, sexually abused her, sending Ann G into a dark spiral of despair. Another psychiatrist euthanised her. Her abuser went back to work. In 2013, a 44-year-old Belgian transman, Nathan Verheist, was euthanised after three sex-change operations. The first time I saw myself in the mirror I felt an aversion for my new body, he said.

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One way to escape malpractice lawsuits: euthanise the patient - BioEdge

Maricopa Animal Care and Control

A dog at a Maricopa County Animal Care and Control shelter.

An Arizona legislative study committee held a meeting Monday, Nov. 13, looking into animal control facility standards, or lack thereof.

Dr. Nancy Bradley, who's worked for years with Maricopa County shelter and Arizona Humane Society, testified that there are no licensed shelters in Arizona.

"If theres any oversight from the Veterinary Examining Board thats going to be only if its a larger shelter, like say Maricopa County or Humane Society, where they actually have veterinary hospitals."

She says dog euthanasia is increasing. City and county shelters also aren't required to have a vet on staff, and overcrowding has led to disease and mass euthanasia.

The meeting comes amid two high profile animal cases in Arizona.

Chandler officialsare close to expanding the citys animal-cruelty ordinance to include the crime of animal hoarding. The update would make it illegal to keep any number of animals at such quantities and circumstances that the health and welfare of any animal or person is harmed. The Chandler City Council is expected to vote on a final adoption of the ordinance next month.

In September, Chandler police said they rescued a senior and 55 dogs from filthy conditions at one womans home. The case against her is ongoing.

San Diego Humane Society

Several small animals from the San Diego Humane Society are prepared to be transported to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in Tucson.

In August, the San Diego Humane Society transferred 300 small pets to their Southern Arizona counterparts. Those animals were later sent to an individual whose business includes selling live and frozen animals for reptile feed. While several animals were eventually returned, most were not and remained missing.

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona fired its CEO last month and also accepted the resignation of its chief operating officer.

Its board reportedly did not learn of the reptile farm owner's involvement until weeks after the animal transfer.

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Arizona legislative committee meets on animal care standards - Fronteras: The Changing America Desk

Wild hippos spend most of the day immersed in water and can be difficult to capture.Credit: Fernando Vergara/AP Photo/Alamy

Colombia has begun a new campaign to sterilize its invasive hippos, showing signs that it is taking the threat the animals pose to the countrys biodiversity and local communities seriously. The plan is to capture, anaesthetize and sterilize an initial 20 hippos by the end of 2023 as part of a three-pronged approach the government is taking to reduce the rapidly expanding population that has established itself along the countrys Magdalena River.

Colombias cocaine hippo population is even bigger than scientists thought

The other prongs involve shipping hippos abroad to sanctuaries and zoos, and more contentiously culling some of the animals. Colombias environment minister, Susana Muhamad, announced the plan at a press conference on 2 November.

Earlier this year, researchers feared that Muhamad would not take the action needed to curb the hippo population after she met with animal-rights groups and created a new division of animal protection within the ministry, and the publication of a government-commissioned study on the hippos was delayed. Although some still have concerns, they are glad the ministry is taking action.

There are questions around how all this will be carried out, particularly the euthanasia, but it seems that the government is generally going in the right direction, says Jorge Moreno-Bernal, a biologist at the University of the North in Barranquilla, Colombia.

We are in a race against time in terms of permanent impacts to the environment and ecosystem, Muhamad said at the press conference.

Colombias hippos considered the largest invasive animals in the world flourished in the countryside after escaping from drug-cartel leader Pablo Escobars estate. Escobar illegally imported four hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the 1980s. Left alone after he died in 1993, the male and three females reproduced rapidly thanks to a lack of droughts and predators, factors that normally keep hippo populations in check in their native sub-Saharan Africa.

Pablo Escobars cocaine hippos spark conservation row

A study commissioned by Colombias environment ministry and published in April estimated that there are now 181215 hippos in the country. One model of their population growth estimated that, by 2050, they could number more than 1,000 if measures arent taken to control them1.

Ecologists have been concerned that the highly territorial animals, which can weigh up to 3 tonnes, are altering the composition of Colombias main river with their excrement, and are outcompeting other species, such as the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), for habitat and resources.

Following the April release of the study, which detailed evidence of the damage being caused by the hippos and recommended solutions, the government decided to take action, Muhamad said.

One of the key conclusions is that there is not a single strategy to control the hippos population and their environmental impact, Muhamad told Nature.

The first step is the sterilization campaign, for which the government has put aside 808 million pesos (US$200,000) this year. Each surgical castration will take a team of eight including veterinarians, technicians and support staff between six and eight hours. So far, three sterilizations have been completed, according to David Echevveri, head of biodiversity management, protected areas and ecosystem services at Cornare, the regional environment authority tasked with the campaign. In the coming years, the goal is to ramp up to sterilizing 40 hippos a year.

Landmark Colombian bird study repeated to right colonial-era wrongs

Researchers have pointed out that this will be a slow and costly endeavour. Sterilization is only a prerequisite for the other strategies. They must execute the three simultaneously, says Rafael Moreno, an ecologist who participated in the ministry-commissioned hippo study while at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in Bogot.

Muhamad told Nature that a more effective strategy would be to export the animals. During the press conference, she said that the ministry has had a concrete offer from a buyer in India willing to take 60 of the animals, and that Indias environmental authorities are considering it.

Researchers who spoke to Nature are sceptical about the exportation plan because they think it could be costly and logistically challenging. According to Ernesto Zazueta, the owner of the Ostok Sanctuary in northern Mexico who has expressed interest in taking some of the animals, to export 60 hippos to India and another 10 to Mexico would cost a total of about $3.5 million.

The Colombian government will cover the costs of sterilization, and probably the costs of euthanasia, but exportation would be paid for by the zoos or sanctuaries importing the hippos, Muhamad told Nature.

Although the researchers Nature spoke to are glad the government is moving ahead with its plan to control the hippo population, they are concerned that it will rely too heavily on sterilization, because fewer details have been offered about the other two, more effective strategies. After sterilization, the animals would ideally be confined or exported, Moreno says. Returning them to the countryside to roam would allow them to continue to inflict damage on the environment, he says. In the past, sterilization efforts havent been effective, because the hippos bred faster than they could be caught and operated on.

Moreno is also concerned by the ministrys announcement that it will consult citizen groups about the process of euthanizing the animals. It is a technical matter that should be taken by experienced professionals, he says.

Ecologists say that culling will be necessary. But that part of the initiative will probably be met by legal challenges, says Elliot Doornbos, a senior lecturer in criminology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. A public outcry occurred after a photo of a dead hippo was shared online in 2009 and caused efforts to rein in the population to be halted.

Muhamad told Nature that the environment ministry is working with experts to draw up an ethical euthanasia protocol that will be consulted in different expert committees to ensure its efficiency and rigour.

Depending on how many we export and how many we can sterilize, we will see how many we will have to cull, she added.

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Colombia begins sterilizing its invasive hippos: what scientists think - Nature.com

Catholic medical professionals enjoy fellowship at the conference. Photo: Supplied

A national Catholic medical association conference has been a shot in the arm for doctors and other health professionals facing the introduction of voluntary assisted dying in New South Wales this month.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia will be legal in every Australian state from 28 November and the conference run by the Australian Catholic Medical Association helped like-minded delegates feel like they are not alone, in their concerns about the effects on vulnerable patients, the medical profession and the broader community, said organiser Mike McHugh.

It was a real boost to all of us and I think the penny has dropped that we really do need to support each other in building a stronger Catholic medical community, he told The Catholic Weekly.

Our association has been around for a while now but after the weekend there was a real buzz as many more people now know where to find each other for help and resources and just to bounce ideas off each other.

That they may have life was the theme of the inaugural national conference held at St Josephs conference and retreat centre in Baulkham Hills from 10-12 November.

More than 80 healthcare professionals from around the country met for prayer and mutual support with presentations delivered by experts including Australian Catholic University bioethicist Dr Xavier Symonsrecently appointed head of the Plunkett Centre for BioethicsACMA chaplain Fr Pascal Corby, historian Dr Elisabeth Taylor, palliative medicine doctor and Sydney University associate professor Maria Cigolini and Parramatta deacon and retired GP Michael Tan.

The bulk of the proceedings were on Saturday, beginning with Dr Symons, who said clearer protections are needed for conscientious objections.

He offered advice on what to do if a doctor or other health profession has an objection to abortion, euthanasia or other procedure allowed by law that conflicts with their conscience.

Part of the upshot of providing a broader role of conscience in medicine is that its not just about controversial medical proceduresyou are always making conscientious judgements in medicine, he told attendees.

In that way just as any other doctor would want their discretionary space respected with regard to end of life care or the advisability of any treatment measurements, so should you have your rights respected.

I think its important we dont buy into this trap of making conscientious objection somehow a special plead [for Christians] in medicine.

The conference dinner keynote was delivered by pro-life advocate Dr Joanna Howe who spoke powerfully about the tragedy of abortion and urged participants to work together to push for legal protections for unborn children across Australia.

McHugh said all were relieved to receive input and be able to discuss pressing practical and philosophical questions around medical conscientious objection, technology and transhumanism, youth transgenderism, abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide across the weekend.

A highlight was the first White Mass celebrated by Sydney Bishop Richard Umbers and concelebrated by Tasmanian Archbishop Julian Porteous, where all present received a blessing of hands for their ministry to the sick and the dying.

Organiser Dr Deirde Little said the conference was inspired by the need for Catholic doctors and others with ethical concerns about changes to current medical practice to consider ways to remain focussed on the good of individuals in their care.

We needed to come together to discuss how do we properly consider each person we come across rather than aggregating our responsibility to government agencies or legislators who would tell us how to manage a patient, what medicine to use and how to discuss things with a patient, she said.

For example, modern advanced care directives that are government-issued in local health districts encourage a tick-a-box style of medicine where a lay person may tick boxes on a persons future decisions in an unforeseeable context.

Now we who are a bit older can see the pitfalls of that one-size-fits-all kind of medicine which we feel is not necessarily in the best interests of patients and may have an ideological grounding which is not in accord with Christian or Catholic principals.

So we need look together at what kinds of harms it can do and what can we do to prevent them.

The Australian Catholic Medical Association is the national peak body for Catholic healthcare professionals, replacing the former state-based Guild of St Luke, and is approved by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

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Conference brings medics together in support of good ethics - The Catholic Weekly

A Wheeling Murderer was sentenced to life in prison and citizens demand answers about the euthanasia of dogs at a local animal shelter: Heres a look back at the weeks top headlines  WTRF

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A Wheeling Murderer was sentenced to life in prison and citizens demand answers about the euthanasia of dogs at a local animal shelter: Heres a look...

DARWIN Bishop Charles Gauci is preparing to publicly champion the value of Christian life after the Northern Territory government this week announced it would set up an advisory panel on euthanasia laws.

On July 22, the NT government announced a panel would carry out community consultation about voluntary assisted dying and provide an independent report to policymakers by July next year.

As the Churchs chief advocate and current president of the Northern Territorys Council of Churches, Bishop Gauci expects to be in the public eye defending the dignity of the human person and pointing out the pitfalls of euthanasia.

I certainly wont be watering anything down, Bishop Guaci said.

I intend to have a respectful but clear and solid conversation about the whole issue and to share information about what the experience has been in other places where euthanasia has been legalised, not just in Australia but in other countries.

In the end we surrender to Gods will. As Christians, we trust in Gods will and in the end God has the final say when its time to go we dont make that decision ourselves.

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said an advisory panel would examine the structure of how voluntary assisted dying policy could be developed, not whether it should be implemented.

The move follows years of advocacy by families seeking voluntary assisted dying in the Territory.

One of those advocates is Judy Dent whose husband Bob Dent became the first person in the world to die by legal voluntary euthanasia in 1996, under the NTs landmark Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.

Soon after, however, the federal government stripped both the Northern Territory and the ACT of their right to enact euthanasia laws a right that was restored in December last year.

Bishop Gauci, who celebrates 46 years as a priest this year, has written a letter to all NT Catholics explaining his own experience ministering to the elderly and coming to understand the importance of dying.

We as Christians believe that we are on a journey of continuous growth and our destiny is to be in the fullness of life with Christ and the communion of saints. Dying is an important part of living, he said.

It is an important part of letting go of ego and really preparing to embrace fullness of love and fullness of life.

Now I have seen people change through the experience of good pastoral care people who have been angry for years mellowing and making peace.

Bishop Gauci said he would use public discussion about euthanasia to press for improved quality of palliative care offered in the Northern Territory as well as ways to improve pastoral care for people suffering from serious and terminal illnesses.

I have no delusions that it can a very uncomfortable process and sometimes quite painful we dont deny that reality.

Im very sensitive that there are people taking their lives in suicide and how important that we care pastorally for those families who have been involved in that.

However we believe that ultimately death is not something that we can bring about deliberately ourselves.

Life is a gift from God which we cherish. Theres a very clear understanding from the Commandments and the Spirit-led understanding of our tradition that we dont do things deliberately to hasten death.

Having said that, it doesnt mean that we dont help people die with dignity in the natural process, helping them to die comfortably.

Some of the medication may inadvertently (and I repeat inadvertently) hasten the time of death but thats not the intention. The intended reason is to alleviate pain for those people in the last moments of life.

Former NT administrator Vicki OHalloran and senior counsel Duncan McConnel have been appointed as co-chairs of the advisory panel due to report to government by mid 2024.

Other panellists will be appointed based on expertise in end-of-life health care, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural matters, justice, and social welfare policy.

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Darwin bishop ready to champion 'value of Christian life' as ... - Catholic Leader

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The current controversy over euthanasia in faith-based hospitals brings back memories from decades ago when I needed jaw surgery. Despite the operation being for a functional, not cosmetic, purpose, it wasnt covered by B.C.s Medical Services Plan.

The other thing I recall is that it took place at the old St. Marys Hospital in New Westminster. The surgery and care were excellent, but I lived nowhere near New Westminster, which meant making transportation arrangements home.

The question of where health-care services are provided is now an issue because a particular service euthanasia is not being provided in a Catholic hospital, St. Pauls in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, countless other unavailable procedures and treatments are ignored, despite the actual health implications.

When Mission Memorial Hospital lost its maternity department more than a decade ago, forcing hundreds of women in labour to go to Abbotsford to have their babies, it wasnt even news outside of those communities.

Today, the widespread unavailability of certain procedures at particular hospitals is not of interest to the media, unless the procedure is euthanasia.

Several doctors have told me theyre similarly perplexed at the current controversy, which exists because family members were upset that a loved one couldnt have her death take place at St. Pauls. All the doctors I contacted said the unavailability of procedures and treatments and the consequent transferring of patients from one hospital to another is a routine part of health care in B.C.

Every facility has its unique set of capabilities in terms of resources, facilities, equipment, staff, specialists, etc., one doctor said.

Cancer patients, for example, are sent from one hospital to another because not all B.C. Cancer Agency sites are equipped to treat all types of cancer.

A doctor told me that at BC Womens Hospital, where high-risk obstetrics are managed, maternal acute life-threatening medical emergencies need to be transferred to St. Pauls which can serve both mother and baby because there is no adult ICU at BC Womens.

Doctors shared stories of patients who could be best cared for at one hospital for one condition, but who ultimately went to a different hospital for a competing issue.

Physicians tell of patients being moved routinely because of the unavailability of everything from vascular surgery to neurosurgery to dialysis. Nursing home patients who have psychiatric conditions that cant be managed are transferred to an acute care hospital or a psychiatric facility. Families and loved ones suffer along with them as seriously ill patients are shuttled from one facility to another.

What a ridiculous waste of energy to quibble about euthanasia when there are real medical problems to deal with, a doctor said. Another said that those pushing the MAiD agenda are threatening an already imperfect system for the satisfaction of a few. We had a preview in Quebec, which allowed euthanasia years before it was legal in Canada. Quebec palliative care facilities that didnt want to provide euthanasia were threatened with loss of funding. Non-compliant doctors were warned they would lose their hospital privileges.

The result was increased stress among hospice workers, vulnerable patients, and family members who watched as euthanasia activists tried to push suicide into every corner of the health-care system, one doctor said.

The limited availability of health-care services is undoubtedly costing lives. Ironically, agitators are pushing for the universal provision of a medical service that does nothing but take more lives.

We welcome letters to the editor about articles in The B.C. Catholic.

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Suddenly hospital transfers are an issue? - BC Catholic - Multimedia ... - The B.C. Catholic

Ernst Kuipers, the Dutch health minister, recently announced that regulations were being modified to allow doctors to actively end the lives of children aged one to 12 years who were terminally ill and suffering unbearably.

Previously, assisted dying was an option in the Netherlands in rare cases in younger children (under one year) and in some older teenagers who requested voluntary euthanasia. Until now, Belgium was the only country in the world to allow assisted dying in children under 12.

Under the proposal, it will remain against the law for doctors in the Netherlands to actively end the life of a child under the age of 12. However, a force majeure clause gives prosecutors the discretion not to prosecute in exceptional circumstances.

In 2005, Dutch doctors and legal experts published guidelines (the so-called Groningen protocol) elaborating when these exceptional circumstances would apply for infants under the age of one year. That included certainty about diagnosis and prognosis, hopeless and unbearable suffering, the support of both parents and appropriateness confirmed by an independent doctor.

The new regulations would allow the same principles to apply to children between one and 12 years of age.

In a study commissioned by the Dutch health ministry and released in 2019, researchers investigated the deaths of a large number of children who had died four years earlier. They did not identify any cases where doctors had deliberately hastened death.

However, Dutch paediatricians and parents had reported that in a small number of cases, children and families were experiencing distressing suffering at the end of life despite being provided with palliative care.

That included, for example, children with untreatable brain tumours who developed relentless vomiting, screaming, and seizures in their dying phase. Or children with epilepsy resistant to all treatment with tens to hundreds of seizures a day.

The study recommended improvements in access to palliative care for children, as well as altering regulation to provide the option of assisted dying in these extreme cases.

It has been suggested that five to ten children a year might be eligible for this option in the Netherlands.

The Dutch proposal is different to the law in Belgium. In 2014, Belgium removed a lower age limit for accessing voluntary euthanasia.

This means that, in theory, Belgian children under the age of 12 years can request assisted dying in strictly limited circumstances, including that they have a terminal illness, have severe suffering that cannot be eased, can understand their circumstances, and their parents agree.

This would not apply to the children covered by the Dutch regulation who are too young or too unwell to make decisions for themselves. Since the Belgian law was passed, only four cases of assisted dying in minors (under the age of 18) have been reported.

The expansion of assisted dying to children in the Netherlands will probably be viewed, by those who are opposed to assisted dying, as further evidence of the so-called slippery slope. This is the argument that allowing assisted dying in initially limited cases will lead to progressive liberalisation and to much more problematic cases.

The Groningen protocol for young infants was also claimed to be a clear example of the slippery slope. However, reports from the Netherlands suggest that rather than leading to an increase, there has been a significant reduction over time.

According to the Dutch health minister, only two cases in children under one year have been reported since 2007.

The important ethical question is what our society wants doctors to do when faced with the thankfully rare but heartbreaking situation of a child suffering severely at the end of their life.

Should doctors try sedating the child heavily until they are unconscious and wait for the inevitable end? Should doctors do the best they can, but accept that suffering is not always avoidable? Or should they take steps to hasten the childs death?

In most countries, the last is not a lawful option even if both parents and doctors think that would be kindest for the child. However, in the Netherlands, it appears that this will be available as a last resort, once the new regulations have been approved. Hopefully, it will rarely be needed.

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Dutch government to expand euthanasia law to include children aged one to 12 an ethicist's view - The Conversation

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNAs Spanish-language news partner, Ivette Laviada, who holds a masters degree in bioethics, said that the death with dignity initiative that is proposed for debate in the Chamber of Deputies is completely contrary to human rights.

In Mexico, euthanasia and assisted suicide are expressly prohibited in Article 166 of the General Health Law and in Article 312 of the Federal Penal Code [CPF], she added.

Laviada also pointed out that the disguise that they want to put on active euthanasia [considered as helping or inducing suicide] as an act of mercy at the request of the patient to avoid suffering from a terminal illness has many angles that must be considered.

It is not the same thing to regulate advance directives in which a terminally ill person can in the exercise of his freedom decide what means, therapies, or procedures he wants to receive or not during the course of his illness, as to request that medical personnel or even a family member procure his death to lighten his pain since as established by the CPF, whoever procures the death of another commits homicide, she stressed.

Laviada also stressed that a dignified death has more to do with accompanying the sick with quality care and attention without artificially prolonging life with disproportionate means and without hastening death.

When a doctor can no longer cure, he can accompany with palliative care, she said. Necessary nutrition, hygiene, and medicines that eliminate or reduce pain should not be withheld and the patient, if he so desires, should receive spiritual accompaniment.

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Thousands of signatures presented to Mexican Congress urging defeat of euthanasia bill - Catholic News Agency