CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Poland: a light for life”Life is not simply a matter that can be handled at will by means of biotechnologies or political action; life is the human person”. Thus declared the Apostolic Nuncio in Warsaw Msgr. Celestino Migliore on March 25, XIV National Day for the Sacrality of Life. On Saturday, after Mass, thousands of people in the diocese of Warsaw-Prague, especially youth, took part in the events of “A light for life” held in the Polish capital. Msgr. Migliore addressed participants acknowledging that they “are opposing ideas, behaviors and lifestyles geared towards a material understanding of life, whereby the life of individuals and communities should be customized to individual desires and decisions”. Arkadiusz Urban, representing the Order of the Knights of John Paul II, who contributed to the event’s organization, stressed that similar initiatives are “necessary”. “Unborn children don’t have the possibility of defending themselves, they have no voice”, he added, highlighting the participants’ witness of peace to this year’s event. The Day is also promoted by the Franciscans in the framework of the celebrations for the year of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, “as spiritual heirs of the Saint we wish to actively take part in the defense of life”, they state in a release. The Day for the Sacrality of Life in Poland was proclaimed in 1998, in response to the encyclical “Evangelium Vitae”. It is celebrated on March 25 every year, the Day of the Annunciation.Portugal: the youth are thankful for the WYDIn view of the upcoming World Youth Day, due to be held in Madrid on August 16-21, the Portuguese Church hopes to be able to overcome its initial expectations that envisaged the participation of 15 thousand young people. The Director of the National Department for the Pastoral Care of the Youth (Dnpj), father Pablo Lima, announced: “Eigh thousand young people have already registered for the event, we hope we will exceed the initial target in the forthcoming months, considering that initiatives and youth mobilization is increasing across the Country”. “Dioceses continue promoting catechesis and formation meetings for the Spanish event – he added – while even those who won’t be able to attend are experiencing growing enthusiasm”. The bishop of Viseu, Msgr. Ilídio Leandro said: “Our young Christians are fervent, enthusiastic and outgoing in communicating their joy. I trust that the presence of over one million young people from all over the world will represent a breath of fresh air and act as a positive sign for the affirmation of Christian youth”.Moldova: respecting ownership rightsThe Catholic diocese of Chisinau subpoenaed the Government of the Moldovan Republic “for not having undertaken a project of dialogue, nor concrete negotiations” despite “the repeated requests” for the restitution and the right of ownership of Church property during the Soviet period. In a statement released on March 28 through the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences the prelates write: “During the Soviet period the places of worship and other property belonging to the Roman-Catholic Church in Moldova were expropriated, confiscated and transferred to State ownership. After the proclamation of independence, with the establishment of the sovereignty of the Moldovan Republic, on several occasions the Roman Catholic Church turned to the authorities claiming ownership rights of the previously confiscated real estate. But to date the State failed to communicate its willingness to reach a solution to the problem”. According to the Moldovan diocese, “complying with the ownership rights of Church property, of the places of worship and of all expropriated goods should be a concrete fact and not a formality. These rights should be ensured, for the legality and the respect of the historical truth”.Ukraine: Cardinal Husar’s farewell to Msgr. SchevchukIn an interview to Livyi Bereh, card. Lubomyr Husar spoke of the tasks that will be addressed by his successor, Msgr. Sviatoslav Schevchuk, elected Major Archbishop of Kiev of the Ukrainians by the Synod of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church. Schevchuk, 41, replaces Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, who recently retired. “An important objective – points out card. Husar in the interview – is to engage in the task of moralizing the public realm, so as to bring God in people’s lives. Here’s an example, even trivial, of what it could mean: we must teach our people not to endure corruption. I am surprised before the government’s grandiose projects to fight corruption, the legislative fight against corruption. This is ridiculous! Corruption is a sin. And sin cannot be defeated by law. It’s a question of education. If all churches are committed in the formation of believers’ respect of legality, then things will change”.
