Croatia: pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica”A person without God loses his own identity, just as Croatian culture without the cross of Christ and the resurrection risks being no longer recognizable”. That’s the warning made in recent days by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, in his homily during the Mass celebrated on the occasion of the 278th votive pilgrimage to the Marian sanctuary of Marija Bistrica. Addressing the some 30,000 pilgrims present in the open-air church dedicated to the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, Cardinal Bozanic attacked the current “relativist ideology according to which everything can apparently be mixed together, everything is equally good or bad” and “what’s evil ought not to be called evil for fear of offending the person who commits it”. This relativism – he continued – prospers “thanks to a deliberate indifference that generates lack of hope”. According to the Metropolitan of Zagreb, “hope always seeks a face. If this face no longer exists, life will be deprived of it”. Referring to some accusations levelled against the Church, Cardinal Bozanic rebutted them: “There are those who think that the Church is seeking to promote her own interest in society in order to become a kind of political semi-power. The Church, on the contrary, has reason to stand alone but only if she proclaims the truth of the cross in a credible manner”. “If the logic of the cross were to be adopted by families, schools, parishes, associations, organizations and political parties, how everything would change!” concluded the archbishop. On their arrival at Marija Bistrica the pilgrims were greeted by Zlatko Koren, Rector of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Bistrica, which is this year celebrating its 800th anniversary. The episcopal vicar of Zagreb, Zvonimir Sekelj, exhorted those present to “undertake new pastoral initiatives to promote the growth of faith”.Austria: “Christianity on the banks of the Nile””Christianity on the banks of the Nile” is the main theme of the 12th conference of the Christian Orient Initiative (ICO), held in Salzburg on 14-15 September. The meeting, held in collaboration with the Pro Oriente organization and the Meyr-Melnhof Institute for the Christian Orient, was inaugurated by the Bishop of Salzburg, the Most Rev. Ludwig Schwarz, who appealed for greater awareness of Christianity in Middle Eastern countries. Participants in the conference also included Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, who devoted his intervention to ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Coptic Church. The situation of the Orthodox Coptic Church in Egypt was widely discussed at the meeting, and Bishop Schwarz urged that it “should encourage new initiatives for the Christians under threat” in the region. In particular, he added, “the Christians threatened by the persecution in Iraq deserve our special attention”. The Orthodox Coptic Bishop for Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, Anba Gabriel, described the motivations for what he called the “martyrdom of the Copts in Egypt”, due in large measure, according to the bishop, to the “extreme poverty in large sections of the population”, which in turn has erupted into “extremist and fundamentalist positions. This especially regards the Muslim majority which projects its own anger on the Christian minority”. Gabriel also lamented the “ignorance” about the Orthodox Coptic Church, which is expressed “in discrimination also on the part of the State”. “Despite the persecution”, added the bishop, “the Coptic Church is flourishing”. Indeed “we can speak of a revival in a period that is otherwise dark”. Portugal: solidarity online in LisbonThe project “Church of Solidarity”, launched by the Patriarchate of Lisbon in April, is now accessible to the public also through the internet, on the website: www.igrejasolidaria.org. On this website citizens can obtain full information about all the actions of solidarity being organized and shared by the charitable and social welfare institutions participating in the project. They can also directly make requests or offer their aid to the participating organizations online. Presenting the initiative, the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal José Policarpo, explained that “the idea emerged in the context of the current economic crisis, with the objective of supporting the participating organizations in their social commitment in the city of Lisbon, and with the aim of providing rapid and concrete responses in a coordinated manner”. The project, he added, “has every intention of continuing even after the current emergency, so as to constitute a permanent network of social and charitable support, which will enable institutions to be linked, synergies to be developed, and problems and solutions to be shared”. The patriarch explained that “what has so far been implemented in just the initial part of the project: namely, community mobilization, technical and organizational development, and setting up a monetary fund at the disposal of institutions and individuals”. “This first phase will be followed by a second, which will actively foster the creation of jobs, and seek to direct the unemployed to vacancies in social institutions. It will also support the creation of micro-enterprises at the service of the community”. “A third phase will lastly concern the study of strategies and the realization of structures geared to providing services and care for the elderly according to the best criteria of quality and sustainability”. “Organizing, cooperating, distributing and working in unity: these are the watchwords of this Church of Solidarity that we wish to promote through this new and innovative platform of communication online”, concluded Cardinal Policarpo.
