As a corroboration of this at the supernatural level, we should remember that the First Vatican Council defined that a message from God can be known to be credible because of miracles and prophecies. It is often stated in connection with our subject matter that bishops have only judged the approved apparitions to be free of errors in faith and morals and thus, in that respect, safe. But this minimalism does not respect the facts. Although the position we have put forward is in some way avant garde, it was developed by the late Joseph de Sainte Marie, OCD, professor of the Teresianum in Rome. It deserves consideration.
Genocide is a hideous crime.
Europeans did not create those conflicts, and while it may be true that some abrupt decisions by European colonial rulers made things worse, by placing boundaries in the wrong places so as to intensify tribal rivalries, still it is no longer credible to say that today the Europeans are fanning the flames. The West is not blameless for the poverty and squalor that Africa is suffering today, to say nothing of the political roller-coaster that continent is riding. Peter Scheurer Newark, New Jersey Certainly Africans are responsible for their own actions, and in these cases that responsibility weighs heavily on their consciences. Our correspondents did not, in our view, write anything that would detract from the force of that conclusion. However they did observe that in the recent years of fighting, the contending parties have been able to secure financial support from the West in exchange for the rights to develop some of the country's valuable resources.