Solidarity with China and MyanmarAll the European Bishops’ Conferences have expressed their solidarity, through prayer and concrete aid, with China and Myanmar (Burma), respectively struck by a devastating earthquake and a cyclone. The initiatives include that of Cardinal Keith Patrick O’ Brien, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, who has sent a message of solidarity to Catholics and to the entire population of China. Recalling his journey to China last year, the cardinal says in his message: “we all praying together for our Chinese brothers and sisters struck by the tragedy”. The spiritual chain of prayer for China also involves the youth of the Taizé Community. “Over 2000 European youth will pray for China and for the victims at Taizé”, announced Frère Alois, Prior of Taizé, which has already donated 10,000 euros for emergency humanitarian relief. “Only two months ago our Brothers visited the Catholic community of Si Chuan. We wish to express all our solidarity and are paying for them”. The number of the victims continues to rise: so far the official figures speak of 12,012 dead, 9,404 people still buried under the rubble, 7,841 missing and 26,206 injured. The Chinese Catholic community is in the front line in providing first aid; it is stepping up its spiritual and material support together with the other religious communities. In the cathedral of Tian Jin prayers are recited each day for the victims and for the emergency teams. Many Catholics in China have offered their services as blood donors. In recent days, the Italian Church has also expressed its solidarity with the population of Myanmar, struck by Cyclone Nargis which has caused over 100,000 victims. The Presidency of the Italian Bishops’ Conference has meanwhile made an allocation of two million euros for emergency relief. Switzerland: Archbishop Sako appeals to the West”The Christians of Iraq: a forgotten community?” was the theme of a conference promoted jointly by the Faculty of Theology of the University of Fribourg and the Basmat Al-Qarib Association, held in recent days at the Faculty itself, in the presence of the Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk, the Most Rev. Louis Sako. “The Christians of the West must be made conscious of the gravity of the tragedy of Iraqi Christians who feel themselves isolated and forgotten – said the Iraqi archbishop -. They have lost hope in a secure future, amid the great silence of the international community and the Church herself, apart from the Pope and some European bishops. Only thirty years ago we formed 5% of the population; now we are less than 3%. The fall of the regime and the American invasion have created a very unstable situation: the country has become a breeding ground for terrorists. The cultural class has been dispersed. Attacks against churches, the kidnapping and killing of bishops, priests and faithful at Baghdad and Mosul, have completely destroyed the hope of many Christians”. In his address Archbishop Sako recalled the great difficulties being suffered by the Iraqi refugees scattered through the various countries of the Middle East: “Their residence can only be provisional and yet their prospect of being able to return home seems a dream”. To stem this exodus, which affects not only Catholics but Muslims too, Archbishop Sako has asked the West to provide a sanctuary to refugee Iraqi Christians and at the same time exert pressure on the USA and on the Iraqi government, so that those who wish to remain in Iraq may do so without running the risk of further persecution by extremists who want the total islamization of the country”. The archbishop of Kirkuk also made an appeal to Western Churches: “Help us to open schools and colleges, also for the training of nurses, to implement agricultural projects and create economic and healthcare organizations. This will produce jobs and this in turn will restore hope to those who wish to remain”.Spain: a new law on religious freedom Concern about the reform of the law on religious freedom, announced by the Government, was expressed by Bishop Demetrio Fernández of Tarazona in his last pastoral letter, as reported by the International news agency Fides. According to Bishop Fernández, “it’s not a problem that other religions present in Spain should acquire the recognition of all their civil rights”. In fact, “even before the Spanish government announced its plan, Vatican Council II proclaimed the need for such recognition over forty years ago, and our hope is that all citizens, in all countries of the world, may acquire these rights”. The bishop recalled that “the State is non-confessional, to support all religions and not to go against any of them”. The fact is, however, that “when the state wants to suppress God from the public sphere we pass from a non-confessional to an atheist state in which everything that smacks of religion is found disturbing”. In a healthy form of secularism, on the contrary, the religious dimension is “esteemed as ‘soul’ of the nation and fundamental guarantee of the rights and duties of the human being”. Therefore, “if the reform of the law on religious freedom follows the road of healthy secularism, there is nothing to fear. But if the reform were to take the road of radical secularism, that of regarding religion with suspicion or something harmful for society, we fear that the parliamentary majority would be about to attack fundamental rights that our Constitution recognises, thus producing a regression in the field of civil liberties”.
