Italy: the 46th Social Week Italian Catholics’ 46th Social Week titled, “Catholics in Italy today, an agenda of hope for the future of the Country” is underway in Reggio Calabria (October 14-17). Msgr. Arrigo Miglio, bishop of Ivrea and president of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of the Social Weeks, delivered the opening speech that was followed by the prolusion the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, on the theme: “Logos and Agape; the intelligence of faith and the transformation of society”. Over 1200 delegates from 227 Italian dioceses and some 300 young people attended the meeting. “The theme of the 46th Social Week – Msgr. Miglio explained – may be seen as atypical compared to recent Social Weeks”. Indeed the theme elicited the interest of participants and was discovered to bear urgent topical relevance; although its adoption must take stock of the Country’s concrete problems”. Thus was born “the idea of a commitment to propose an agenda of hope to be fulfilled not around a table but with a work of reflection which will involve many of those who are seriously committed for the common good of the Country and in the identification of concrete paths for its realization”. Info: www.settimanesociali.it.Switzerland: listening to Africa On the invitation of Swiss bishops and in the framework of the Month of Universal Mission, from October 14 to 23 Msgr. Jogues Gaglo, bishop of Aného (Togo), will be in Switzerland to bring an account of Africa’s presence in the Church. The invitation follows the prelates’ visit to Togo in October 2009, during which, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (CES) explains in a note, “the bishops were impressed by the young, living and fully developing Church of Togo”. In the message drawn up on behalf of CES for the Month of the Mission, Msgr. Joseph Roduit, abbot of Saint-Maurice, underlined that aid to Africa “must not be only financial aid”; it is also necessary “to involve its Christians”. The Month of Universal Mission was established in 1980 by John Paul II to celebrate solidarity without borders. Msgr. Gaglo’s visit, the bishops state in their note, “stemmed from an initiative by Missio, the Swiss and Lichtenstein branches of the Pontifical Missionary Works, and CES”. “”Walking with Africa” is the slogan for the 2010 campaign, which chose Togo as guest country. Msgr. Gaglo will visit the dioceses of the bishops he met in Togo: he will go to San Gallo, Lugano, Soleure. Among the several appointments: conference in Fribourg on the Church of Togo on October 21st; and October 24th, Sunday of the universal mission, Mass in Notre-Dame of Geneva with Msgr. Pierre Farine.Belgium: new ruling on confiscated dossiersThe dossiers confiscated to the Belgian Church will be returned to investigating judge Wim De Troy. On Tuesday October 12 the Court of Cassation repealed the two rulings, (the latest one issued September 10) and provided for the restitution of the dossiers confiscated to the Belgian Church during the “Operation Chalice” search carried out in June by local authorities. The court said the police raid was “sensational” and “illegal”. Now the Court of Cassation is stepping off, claiming that the Chamber of Review, committed a procedural mistake by rejecting the petitioners’ hearings. Indeed, lawyers Walter Van Steenbrugge and Christine Mussche, who defend 6 victims of sexual abuses, asked the Cassation Court to issue a sentence against the two rulings. General lawyer Damien Vandermeersch, magistrate of the Supreme Court, recalled that the latter did not express its view to this regard, but on the procedure. It was acknowledged that the incrimination Chamber did not, as by procedure, listen to the petitioners. The archbishop of Malines-Bruxelles, in agreement with his lawyer Keuleneer, acknowledges the new decision but wishes not to comment on the events. France: a new edition of the Bible The new edition of the “Ecumenical translation of the Bible” was presented in France. The volume – the first of its kind in the world – is the result of 6 years’ work carried out by Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox biblical scholars, whose joint efforts were aimed at producing “a modern translation” of the Bible, states a communiqué. The initiative was announced by Rev. Claude Baty on behalf of the Protestant Federation of France, by father Nicolas Cernokrak, dean of the Institute of Orthodox Theology Saint-Serge and by Msgr. Paul Guiberteau, dean of the Catholic Institute in Paris. The translation – claim the three Church representatives – “is an unprecedented editorial and ecumenical event”. Moreover, they added, “the Orthodox contribution – which in previous editions had been rather limited – was extremely significant”.
