Italy: the strength of life in suffering”Responding to permanent states of suffering, real or asserted, by claiming forms of euthanasia, whether explicit or implicit”, means giving the “wrong answers”, say the Italian bishops, “with serenity, but also with clarity”, in their message for the next national Pro-Life Day, which is due to be celebrated on 1st February on the theme: “The strength of life in suffering”. “Human life – says the message of the permanent Episcopal Council, issued today – is an inviolable and inalienable good, and so the abandonment of treatment can never be justified. Nor, obviously, can therapeutic obstinacy, if reasonable prospects for a cure no longer exist”. On the contrary, according to the Italian Church, “the road to pursue is that of research, which urges us to multiply our efforts to combat and provide a cure to pathologies – even the most difficult – and never to abandon hope”. The bishops also deal with another scourge: abortion. In the view of the Italian bishops, “the proper response to suffering is not to inflict another form of suffering”, and as an alternative to abortion there also “exist solutions that are positive and open to the acceptance of life, as demonstrated by the long, generous and laudable experience promoted by Catholic associations”. “The path of suffering – says the message – becomes less intractable if we become conscious that it is Christ who bears suffering with us”. “It’s a demanding journey”, admits the Italian Church, but “when the burden of life seems to us intolerable, the virtue of fortitude comes to our succour”. It “is the virtue of those who do not abandon themselves to despair: it confides in friends; it gives an objective to their own life and pursues it with tenacity”. In short, it is the life of the cross chosen by Christ which “demonstrates to us that no suffering, however grave, may prevail over the strength of love and of life”.Holland: the Bible, Jews and CatholicsWhat is the relation of Catholics and Jews to Holy Scripture? That’s the central theme of the Day of Judaism, which will be celebrated in the Netherlands for the second time on 17 January. The Dutch bishops have dedicated a special website to the Day (www.dagvanhetjodendom.nl). In contrast to last year, when the bishops met the rabbis and the administrators of the two Jewish congregations in Holland, this year’s Day is aimed more at the Catholic community. According to Tineke de Lange, representative of the Catholic Council for Israel, the objective of the Day is to “reflect on our way of thinking about the Jewish roots of our faith. Jesus himself was a Jew and Christianity is immersed in Judaism – continues de Lange -; if we lose sight of this, we deny our identity and fail to understand ourselves”. Again with regard to our understanding of the Bible, de Lange poses the following questions: “it is often said that Jews and Christians have the Old Testament in common. But do we mean the same book? And what role does this book play in both communities? And what’s the relation between the Old and the New Testament?”. The website www.dagvanhetjodendom.nl also contains suggestions for the prayers and the liturgy that accompany the process of rapprochement between the two communities.Portugal: looking to GuantanamoThe national day of Catholic prison chaplains and visitors ended at Fatima in recent days. This year’s meeting was focused on the theme “Prisons in Portugal – Today and Tomorrow”. “All those who work in the prison sector – said the national coordinator, Father João Gonçalves, at the end of the meeting – must dedicate themselves and unite their efforts to determine real processes for the rehabilitation of prison inmates; processes that may lead to their effective social re-insertion”. According to Fr. Gonçalves, “penal sentences must aim, through study or work, at the acquisition of professional skills, and foster integration in a family and working environment”. Accepting the challenges posed by the international context, Fr. Gonçalves also expressed “the willingness” of those responsible for Portuguese chaplaincies to “receive detainees from Guantanamo in our prisons”. Besides, he added, “roughly a fifth of the prison population in our country consists of foreigners and, if the Minister of Justice, on whom is incumbent any decision, concludes that the necessary conditions exist, Portuguese prison chaplains and visitors are willing to assist these persons [from Guantanamo] and to try to make their own contribution to ensure that proper conditions of detention and of life be provided for them”.
