Churches in Europe

The editorial by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux, President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), dedicated to John Paul II, titled “A Blessed for Europe”, opens the first 2011 issue of “Litterae Communionis Episcoporum Europae”, the CCEE’s four-monthly publication with the cooperation of SIR Europe. This year marks the 40th anniversary of CCEE’s service to the Church in Europe (1971 – 2011). “Litterae Communionis” proposes a shorter version of a contribution by Msgr. Aldo Giordano, permanent observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe, former CCEE Secretary General (1995-2008), that provides a snapshot of CCEE activity in the period 1990 – 2000. The news bulletin outlines the CCEE initiatives in the first four-month period of 2011 and as customary, reports on CCEE meetings, on COMECE activity – which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2010 – and on the Council of Europe, along with a dedicated section (Wide Angle) covering the initiatives of European bishops’ conferences, of which follows a synopsis. Each issue of SIR Europe presents ample news coverage of the activity of European Churches. Albania. On April 15, the bishops addressed a message to the citizens of the Albanian Republic called to vote on 8 May in the administrative elections. In the document, the bishops wanted to remind Albanians to avoid “acts of violence” and “to use your vote well for the common good”. During the Plenary Assembly (Tirana, May 10-11) work focused on some issues concerning the life of the Church in Albania, including the problem of properties confiscated by the State during the Communist era and the establishment of the Catholic University. Belarus. The Catholic Church organised prayers for the deceased and the wounded in the explosion in Minsk’s underground past April 11, that caused 12 deaths and 200 casualties. Priests visited the wounded in hospitals and Caritas organised various forms of assistance. On March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord, Catholic Churches in Belarus began a pastoral work of “spiritual adoption of children conceived but in danger of abortion” that will last for the nine months of gestation. The State has granted some land for the construction of a Catholic church in Minsk and has given the Church two buildings (with adjacent land) for religious-welfare objectives. Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the 51st Plenary Session of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia Herzegovina (Mostar, 16-18 March 2011) the bishops were informed about the work of the Councils and Commissions, the work of Caritas, of the Secretariat of the Bishops’ Conference, of the Pontifical Missionary Aid Society, and of the Catholic News Agency, and they gave instructions about future work. On 29 April 2011 a meeting between bishops from the Bishops’ Conference and Provincial Superiors of male and female religious took place in Sarajevo on the theme “Evangelisation: the evangelisation we’ve done or that we still have to do?”Bulgaria. In January there were celebrations to mark the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the first Apostolic Nunciature in Sophia. In fact, on 6 December 1990 full diplomatic relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Holy See, interrupted during the Communist era, were re-established. The recent publication in Bulgarian of all the documents of the Second Vatican Council in one volume was an event of great significance for the religious, cultural and spiritual life in Bulgaria.Cyprus. In the Archeparchy, animation of various pastoral initiatives continues, especially youth pastoral work focussing above all on spiritual preparation for World Youth Day in Madrid, that will see the participation of some 60 young people. Archbishop Youssef Soueif was a member of the delegation, presided over by Patriarch Cardinal Antonios Naguib and promoted by COMECE, which attended the COMECE Plenary meeting in March 2011 and met with the European institutions to discuss the question of Christians in the Countries of the Mashriq and Maghreb.Croatia. The Croatian Bishops’ Conference is heavily occupied in preparation for the apostolic visit to Croatia of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, which is scheduled to take place from 4-5 June 2011. In the course of the visit, on Saturday 4 June the Pope will pay a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic; he will meet with representatives of civil society, the political, academic, cultural, and business world, the diplomatic corps and religious leaders. On Sunday 5, in the Zagreb Hippodrome, the Pope will preside at Mass on the occasion of the National Day of Croatian Catholic Families. In the afternoon he will pray at the tomb of Blessed Alojzije Viktor Stepinac.Russian Federation. On March 4 Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, the new President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Russian Federation presided over the Permanent Council of the Inter-denominational Consultative Commission of the Churches and Christian Communities in the Russian Federation and surrounding countries. Themes tackled were the relationship between the Christian communities and the State about certain social issues such as the family, the defence of life, and help to the needy. The meeting of young Muscovites from the Archdiocese in preparation for World Youth Day took place over the past weeks. More than two thousand young people from Russia are expected for the event.Lithuania. The Lithuanian bishops proclaimed 2011 the Year of Divine Mercy. Two plenary meetings of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference have taken place. The bishops examined the information received about the work being carried out in the various bilateral working groups, established to put into effect the directives of collaboration from the concordat between the Republic of Lithuania and the Holy See, and other issues connected with relations with the authorities and legal issues. In Parliament a decree is being prepared on artificial fertilisation and a discussion has begun about compensation for confiscation of lands belonging to the Catholic Church. Moldova. In this first period of the year the Church has been committed in the preparation of the “First Catholics’ Social Week” in Moldova that take place next October 11-14. Expert studies were collected on specific themes along with the sharing of such content with the different pastoral bodies throughout the territory. The social commitment is endless, partly because the demand for support coming from the Moldovan territory, where poverty is still one of the most discussed topics both in church life and in relations with State bodies, remains very high. Msgr. Anton Cosa, particularly committed in the protection of the poor and has spoken with equal fervour about the need to tackle the problem of the State restitution of Church goods. Scandinavian countries. From 31 January – 7 February the Scandinavian Bishops’ Conference met and for the first time went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The main theme of the Plenary meeting was the common guidelines drawn up by the Nordic Churches to tackle the scandal of sexual abuse in the Church. These demands call for much broader and detailed rules with respect to those in the Civil Code. A poll was conducted throughout all 48 parishes of the Copenhagen diocese to begin a process of the renewal of pastoral work. Romania. In a poll carried out by the journal Forbes Romania, the organization Caritas Romania was described as “philantropist of the year 2010”. In that year the organisation spent more than 10 million Euros on services and projects in favour of the most disadvantaged. More than 55,000 people, mostly Orthodox, have benefited from the social services of Caritas Romania. More than 20,000 children have been assisted. I Breviary, one of the iPhone and iPad applications most used by Catholics, is now available in Romanian, too. The proposal of Consultative Council expressing a single voice for cults in Romania in the dialogue with humanity and society was adopted in the month of April.Slovakia. Issues discussed in the 68th Plenary Assembly of the Slovakian Bishops’ Conference (Donovaly, 28 – 29 March 2011) include the Pastoral Letter on the population census (21 May 2011) encouraging the faithful to express their belonging to the Catholic faith; preparation for the Jubilee Year of Saints Cyril and Methodius (2013) and the initiative of the pilgrimage of the relics of Saint Cyril throughout all the Slovakian dioceses along with the World Youth Day, with an expected participation of 2,500 young people from Slovakia. In the meeting of the Minister of Culture Daniel Krajcer with Church representatives to discuss the issue of the financing of the churches it was decided to establish a Commission of experts for the preparation of the new model of Church financing by the State.Slovenia. In response to an article which appeared in the Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso about the finances of the Archdiocese of Maribor, the Slovenian Bishops published a statement from members of the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference about the financial crisis in society, (http://aktualno.rkc.si/?id=11106). The Slovenian prelates met the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Danilo Turk, and they discussed questions about freedom of religion in Slovenia. The Slovenian translation of Peter Seewald’s book-interview with Pope Benedict XVI entitled Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times was published by the Druzina Catholic publisher”.Turkey. At the Ordinary Assembly of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference (7 February 2011) it was decided that all the clergy should participate in the annual formation retreat in Van organised by the Union of Religious in Turkey (URT). At the same Ordinary Assembly, the prelates were given, in order to be presented to the faithful, the book edited by the Lombardy Province of the Capuchin Friars, “Like a grain of wheat” with a DVD offering a series of testimonies and reflections about the figure of Mgr Luigi Padovese, assassinated on 3 June 2010 in Iskenderun (TR).Ukraine (Byzantine rite). The Holy Father Benedict XVI accepted the resignation for reasons of health of the Major Archbishop His Beatitude Lubomyr Cardinal Husar , the CGCU Synod of Bishops elected as the new Major Archbishop of Kyiv- Halych – Msgr Sviatoslav Shevchuk. The enthronement took place on 27 March. On 29 March he was received in audience by His Holiness Benedict XVI.Ukraine (Latin rite). The Meeting of Latin and Byzantine Rite Catholic Bishops took place in Lviv on the theme “The trends and modern religious currents in the world and in the Ukraine”. The meeting was presided over by the Greek-Catholic Archbishop Ihor Vozniak and the Latin Archbishop of Lviv, Msgr Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki.