Scotland: “hybrid embryos are a monstrosity”In the pastoral letter sent this week to the 500 Parish Churches in Scotland, the archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti, in his capacity as President of the Bioethics Commission, reiterated the position of the Pontifical Academy for Life on the creation of hybrid embryos (with human and animal stem cells ) for scientific purposes. This, declared the Academy, is “a monstrosity because of the offence to human dignity”. This year the British Parliament is expected to present and to vote new legislation which would extend the field of genetic research to the creation of in vitro human embryos including experiments (over the 14-day period). “The fact that other Countries have established a limit to human cloning didn’t prevent our government to continue, permitting fertilization between different species and the fusion of human and animal matter into hybrid embryos. This is a monstrosity”. The Church requests respect for “the right and duty” of the members of the Parliament to “vote these issues following their own conscience”.Spain: a testimony against relativism”We encourage everyone to be the testimonies of the love of Christ and to spread this testimony in the defense of human life threatened by natural disasters, by serious contagious diseases and by those elements of evil caused by moral disorder which generates sin. These sins are the lack of solidarity and social injustice, ruthless exploitation of human beings, terrorism and wars”. These words form part of the message issued by the Bishops Commission for Inter-confessional Relations of Spain’s Bishops Conference on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25). The bishops point to a series of serious life-threatening perils such as abortion and infanticide, life-manipulation of the embryo and its destruction. “When Christians jointly render testimony of Christ, a light is shed on the Gospel preached by the Church. Thus, the evils of our world are forced to withdraw. This evil is moral relativism, through which people and societies are drifted astray, away from the open path paved by the Gospel preached by Jesus Christ”. The Bishops referred also to the importance of “spiritual ecumenism” and of prayer, which allow to progress “towards the visible unity”.Portugal: not much debate on the TreatyMsgr. Amândio Tomás, delegate of the Portuguese Bishops at the EU Commission of the Bishops Conference (Comece), in commenting the decision of the Portuguese Premier José Socrates to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon through the parliamentary voting instrument, criticized “the information deficit and the lack of public debate” which characterized this governmental choice. “After France and Holland’s rejection, in Portugal not much time has been devoted to the European project. The man on the street is poorly informed on the contents of the Treaty”. “Information spread by the public opinion often focuses upon financial aspects, while the basic values which characterize the project aren’t adequately made known”. The neo-elected coadjutor bishop of Villa Real pointed out that “the EU, so as not to be viewed as incomprehensible to most people, must be founded on a solid communion of values such as those of Christianity”. Of these, added Msgr. Tomàs, “human dignity comes before everything else”. Msgr.Tomàs equally pronounced a reflection on the Europe-Africa summit held past December, pointing out that “Africa cannot continue being the forgotten Continent of poverty and misery. Only when Europe will stop turning its back to Africa and will truly be capable of opening up to it, the European design will be worthy of its past, and will lay the foundations for a promising future”.Germany: the orthodox and evangelical Churches thank the card. Lehmann”A great gift, not only for the Catholic Church of our country, but for the community of Christians and of the Churches, for the whole country”: this is the opinion of the leader of the German Evangelical Church, Wolfgang Huber, about the work of card. Karl Lehmann, the resigning president of the German Bishops Conference. In a letter to Lehmann, Huber expresses his “sadness” for his resignation, combined however with “great respect and understanding” for the reasons that led to such resignation. Huber expressed his gratitude for the work carried out by the cardinal in the ecumenical sphere, which “strengthens the sense of belonging and the cooperation of the Christians in the Churches. The ecumenical spirit that he represented must keep being decisive”, he concluded. His opinion is shared by the Greek-Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Germany, who is also the president of the Commission of the Orthodox Church (Kokid), Augoustinos, who defined Lehmann “a committed and prominent advocate of ecumenism, a reliable partner and a sincere friend of Orthodoxy. We are glad he will stay on as the Bishop of Meinz, because we will need his experience and advice”. The president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (Zdk), Hans Joachim Meyer, thanked the cardinal for “his cooperation, imbued with mutual trust, for his faithfulness to principles and for his willingness to listen”.
