Spain: the cross of the WYD in Madrid On April 5th, Palm Sunday, over 4,000 boys and girls from the diocese of Madrid, led by card. Antonio Mª Rouco Varela, and boys and girls from other parts of Spain will receive the Cross of the Young from the hands of the boys and girls of Sydney, the city which hosted the latest WYD. It was written in a pastoral letter to all the devotees of the Madrilenian diocese by its archbishop, which states that “this Cross too was given for the first time to the young by John Paul II in 1984, the Holy Year of Redemption, for it to wander through the world for the time intervening between one World Youth Day and the next”. “This processional meeting between the image of Jesus and the Cross of the Young that I will chair myself – says card. Rouco Varela – will mark the beginning of a pilgrimage of the Cross in the Christian parishes and communities of our archdiocese and the dioceses of Alcalá de Henares and Getafe and through all the Spanish dioceses that will ask for that, in preparation to the World Youth Day that will take place in Madrid in 2011”. In his letter, the cardinal invites all the devotees “to partake of the liturgy in the Cathedral and the ensuing procession of the Cross through our streets to confess that life comes to us from Christ, who wanted to manifest His infinite love of all men” in the Cross.Ukraine: commemorative procession in LvivLast Sunday, 10 thousand people marched in Leopolis for the traditional procession of the Cross, that this year coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine’s being free again, after the difficult years of the persecution and the diaspora it experienced under the Soviet regime. The procession left from the Church of the Archangel Michael, where it was publicly celebrated for the first time in the Eighties, and ended in the Cathedral of St Yura with the blessing of the Greek Catholic archbishop of Leopolis, Ihor Vozniak. The procession, which was composed of thousands of citizens of Leopolis, was led by the bishop Hlib (Lonchyna) of the Curia of the Supreme archbishop of Kiev and Halych. The state authorities – especially the mayor of Leopolis, Andrii Sadovyi – also attended the procession.France: National Movements Meeting”This vitality that makes the Church be present in the world. It is a richness of the Church, which brings expertise and skill to family, medical and professional figures; a multi-faceted Church, a testimony of the many ways of Christian life, in full abidance with the word of the Gospel”. With these words the bishop of Verdun François Maupu, President of the Council for Movements and Associations of Catholic faithful that is part of the Bishops’ Conference of France, explained the importance of Catholic community, groups, and movements, whose national coordinators gathered past March 21-22 in Paris with the diocesan delegates for the apostolate of the laity. The theme of this joint session was “The Word of God in the life and in the mission of the movements and associations of the faithful”. The Church in France encompasses some eighty movements and associations of lay faithful that represent over three hundred thousand people. England: working towards a document on social doctrineIn the past days English bishops established a period of consultation for the development of a new document on Social Doctrine. “The purpose of the new document – is written in a note issued by England’s Bishops’ Conference – is to present the essence and implementation of what has always been described as the best-preserved secret of the Catholic Church”, i.e., “its social doctrine applied to the issues pertaining to contemporary society. It bears special significance to the light of the present global turbulence in the economy and of social changes. Effort will be made to highlight the social doctrine as an integrating part of the evangelical mission”. Accordingly, part of the document will dwell into the current social and cultural environment devoting special emphasis to specific issues such as globalisation and the need for market ethics along with the developments in the significance of family life. The theological context will be further expanded, while a section will focus on the testimony of men and women, organizations and communities whose “life and work draw inspiration and support from the Gospel”. The team of experts in charge of drawing up the document includes seven bishops and is chaired by the archbishop of Cardiff, Msgr. Peter Smith. The bishops hope to complete their work by the end of Autumn 2009.
