Russia: the Bishops’ message to Medvedev”The Catholic Church in Russia intends to continue developing relations with the Country’s leadership for the common good of Catholics and of Russian society as a whole”. This was the welcoming address to Russia’s President-elect Dmitry Medvedev. Jointly written by Russia’s Catholic bishops during their plenary assembly in Saratov on March 4-5. “You have an engaging task – state the prelates -to be the President of a large Country, solve Russian society’s serious problems and make unpopular decisions”. The bishops recalled Medvedev’s “attention” “to religious questions when he was the president of the intergovernmental commission”, they pointed to his concern for these issues and towards the needs of religious organizations”. The bishops believe he “will respond to the hopes of citizens” who voted him on Sunday. “Let us hope that this is a good sign for us”, declared to the press agency Kai the Secretary General of the Bishops Conference father Igor Kowalewski. During the XXVII Plenary Joseph Werth was re-elected as chairman of Russia’s Catholic Bishops Conference for another three-year term, Kirlill Klimovitch as vice-president while Kowalewski was re-confirmed secretary general. Some of the debated topics were: vocation to priesthood and consecrated life, the activity of Saint Petersburg’s seminar, State-Church relations, the presence and territorial service to the Russian Federation of foreign priests, monks and nuns. In addition to bishops Werth, Klimovitch and Kowalewski, works were attended also by the Metropolitan archbishop of the “Mother of God” archdiocese in Moscow Msgr. Paolo Pezzi, bishop K. Pickel and the Holy See’s representative at the Russian Federation, archbishop Antonio Mennini. The next plenary meeting will be held in autumn, in the month of November.Switzerland: for Christians in the Holy LandToday, March 7, is the last day of the pilgrimage of Swiss Bishops to the Holy Land, undertaken on March 1st. It started from Bethehelm and up to the Galilee. The bishops thus expressed their solidarity to Christians in the Holy Land along with their closeness towards these two peoples living in this land at a time when “Israelis, Palestinians and the People of the Near East, experience increasing tension”. At Bethlehem the bishops visited Caritas Baby Hospital, supported also by the generosity of Swiss citizens. They continued their pilgrimage to Jerusalem where they met with Patriarch Michel Sabbah and with the Custodian of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa who gave a snapshot of the Christians’ situation. According to Father Joseph Roduit, abbot of Saint-Maurice en Valais, “this pilgrimage is an emanation of our concern to help Christians in the Holy Land remain in their land, since they are the natural keepers of these places. If they should leave, the Country would loose its identity. We wish to encourage pilgrimage here since tourism and trade support the population. We must revive solidarity pilgrimages”.Austria: the question of “low birth rate”Europe’s low birth rate “is one of its most serious problems”, claimed Msgr. Klaus Küng, bishop of St. Pölten’s diocese on the occasion of the presentation of a book on Christian contribution to political life, which took place in Wien in the past few days. In the short run, said Msgr.Küng, this trend is bound to cause “serious social and cultural changes”. To counter this phenomenon “family policies are needed”. “A constructive approach towards the family and children must be the basis of all future-oriented policies”. “While at present, policies are detrimental to large families” often compelled to “live on the threshold of poverty”. Msgr.Küng exhorted politicians to give greater value to the family, which does “marvelous things for society” in promoting personality development and teaching children to act in a responsible manner. The bishop equally identified “the need to act” in the field of sexual education “which must recover the centrality of the family”, and which “can’t only be viewed as a school subject”. Küng criticized the fact that schools only supply “technical information on contraceptive methods”. In this way, “sexuality becomes a consumer good of enormous proportions”. Günther Danhel, chairman of the Marriage and Family Insitution (Ief), pointed out that “the tragedy of low-birth rate trends is all the more evident” if we consider the increasing life expectancy trend.
