CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Portugal: apparitions deniedThe diocese of Leiria-Fátima released an official statement denying the supposed apparitions of Virgin Mary announcing the imminent end of the world. The General Vicar Fr João Guarda, declared that “those who claim visions revealing upcoming divine judgements and retribution, even with precise dates, are lying or fabricating”. Referring to specific “groups of prayer inspired by various currents of spirituality and Marian piety”, amongst whom are circulating apocalyptic messages, Father Guarda added that “these messages deserve no credit whatsoever by Christians endowed with common sense and righteous religious formation. Such messages only contribute to the creation of unnecessary fear and anguish”. The responsible of the diocese invited the promoters of the prayer groups “to encourage a relationship of trust with the Lord and the Virgin Mary among parishioners, along with the appropriate practices of religious devotion leading to true spiritual growth, seeking the spiritual accompaniment and support of their respective parish priests”. The Catholic Church recognizes the truthfulness of the apparitions of the three Fatima shepherd children, in which they received the three “secrets”, although certain movements have insisted on the existence of a “fourth secret” announcing an apocalyptic scenario, officially denied in 2007 by the Vatican Secretary of State Msgr. Tarcisio Bertone. The integral text of the Message of Fatima can be consulted among the documents of the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations.Austria: the Bible in the summerOver 700 posters and adds with significant biblical passages will be released in the months of July and August by the diocese of St. Pölten, which a few days ago undertook a summer communication campaign on the Bible. “If some don’t go to the Bible, the Bible will come to them”, said Msgr. Klaus Küng on July 22 in St. Pölten, during the press conference that presented the initiative. The posters are designed to remind “that the words of the Bible are related to every-day life, sometimes in a surprising manner”. The posters’ content will be somewhat related to the place in which they will be placed. For example, youth centres or movie theatres will display posters with the words of Jesus “I am the light of the world” from the Gospel of St. John. The posters quoting the phrase from the Gospel of St. Matthew “Man shall not live by bread alone” will be placed near supermarkets and food courts. “The message we wish to convey is: God wants to speak to you even now in front of the supermarket, of the town council or the church”, explained Msgr. Küng, who said he hopes that many people will be encouraged to reflection on the words of the Bible. The opening of the communication campaign was accompanied by the distribution of bread in St. Pölten with a leaflet that says: “Man shall not live by bread alone. From the Bible, the Book of books”.Ukraine: not only the Orthodox in St. SofiaPrimate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov, with request to include participation of clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in the program of celebration of the 1000th anniversary of St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv, due to take place on 21 september 2011. The appeal has also been addressed to the first deputy minister of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine and chairman of the Organizing Committee, Mykola Soroka. It expresses concern of the UGCC bishops that celebration would be “one-sided, that is, in favor of one confession” (the Moscow Patriarchate). “All traditional confessions, stemming from the single root of our Kyiv Christian tradition have an equal right and duty to participate in planned festivities”, underlines His Beatitude Sviatoslav, pointing out that St. Sophia´s Cathedral – UNESCO World Heritage site – “represents embodiment of the common Christian roots of all Ukrainian people”. The celebration will include an international scientific conference, exhibions, number of TV and radio programmes and presentation of books dedicated to the cathedral, its history and artistic value.
