CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Croatia: programme of the Pope’s visit On 20 December the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the State Committee for the preparations of the apostolic visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Croatia published the programme of this visit, which is due to take place on 4-5 June 2011. “Together in Christ” is the slogan of the papal journey, which will include a meeting with the President of the Republic of Croatia, Ivo Josipovic, and with the Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. Benedict XVI will also meet representatives of the worlds of culture, business, civil society, politics, the diplomatic corps and the superiors of the religious communities in Croatia. At the end of the first day, the Pope will preside over a prayer vigil with youth in the main square of Zagreb. The central event of the pastoral visit will be the celebration of the Eucharist coinciding with the national meeting of Croatian Catholic families, scheduled for 5 June, again in the capital. After Mass, the Pope will recite the Regina Coeli, and a message to Catholics all over the world is also planned. In the afternoon Benedict XVI will preside over vespers with bishops, priests, religious, theologians and seminarians. Before leaving the country, the Pope will pray at the tomb of the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. Austria: a home for Christian refugees from IraqA humanitarian fund-raising initiative of aid to the Christians of Iraq has been launched in Austria. It was announced in recent days by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, President of the Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Vienna. He referred to a telephone conversation he had recently had with the Austrian Minister of the Interior Maria Fekter, who had informed him of the hospitality that Austria is offering to Christian refugees fleeing from Iraq. The Cardinal for his part reaffirmed that “as far as the Church is concerned the willingness exists to provide for a rapid acceptance of Iraqi Christians in parish communities, without unnecessary red tape”. “I am glad – he added – about this piece of good news given to me by the Minister of the Interior, a pre-Christmas sign of the successful search for a home”. The Iraqi Christians who will be accepted as immigrants in Austria are especially refugees currently living in difficult conditions in Jordan and Syria. As reported by the organizers of the charity in aid of Iraqi Christians, they are people who have no real chance of returning home to Iraq, and whose sole chance of survival lies in emigration. Most of them are well educated and know other languages, apart from their own. Germany: child abuse scandal and dialogue between bishops”Not just negative effects: according to Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier and representative of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) for cases of sexual abuse, the scandal of child abuse in Germany has also had a positive effect on the action of the German Church. Interviewed by the German Catholic press agency KNA, Ackermann said that “the enormous pressure to which we bishops have been subjected in the wake of the wave of scandals has had a positive effect on us. Since then, I’ve had the impression that we speak to each other in a more open way, bearing in mind our mutual differences. The study day held during our autumn plenary was very important in this regard. There is also an intensification of dialogue between the bishops: but obviously we are still at the outset”. Bishop Ackermann pointed out “a wide range of views and also a genuine movement of seeking common ground” between the bishops in the dialogue begun with representatives of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZDK), which represents the Catholic laity in Germany. From this point of view, the bishop thinks that an important impulse will also be given by the apostolic visit that Pope Benedict XVI will make to Germany in September 2011: “Pope Benedict is a person willing to enter into dialogue and at the same time a very spiritual person. Therefore I expect a great deal from this visit. It ought to be far more than a strong sense of community, with thousands of Catholics who perceive only a collective power as community of faith. This visit must especially have a spiritual dimension”. “And the Pope – he concluded – is intellectually so extraordinary and at the same time so sensitive, that the speech he is planned to give to the Bundestag will become a spiritual event”. Portugal: “Life and Peace” anticipates ChristmasFrom 17 to 19 December one of the university canteens of Lisbon was transformed into a privileged venue for the guests invited to the Christmas celebrations of the Life and Peace Community (LPC), a private institution of social solidarity that is patronised by the Patriarchate of Lisbon and that provides support to “those of no fixed address with the objective of rehabilitating them as citizens and reinserting them properly in society”. Free meals, moments of festivity, access to hot baths, clean clothes, medical treatment, psychological support, and administrative assistance characterized these three days. “The Christmas period – explains Elisabete Cardoso – has a profound symbolic value for celebrating a transformation and really beginning a new life”.
