Paolo Zucca

POLITICS

The Italian Lira was abandoned over six thousand days ago, since January 2002, replaced by the euro. In a large part of Europe money exchange is no longer required for cash payments or financial transactions. The business world started to get accustomed with the single currency three years before its adoption, whilst using two currencies. […]

Mary

  A woman whose gaze extended to the future. A woman with an “extra-large” heart; a woman of dialogue. These are some of the distinctive traits of the personality of Sister Leonella Sgorbati, Consolata missionary nun, killed on September 17, 2006 in Mogadishu. She will be beatified tomorrow, Saturday, May 26, in the cathedral of […]

Reflection

  The ancient, distant steps that preceded the contemporary ones, leading to the institution of the liturgical celebration “Mary, Mother of the Church” are well-known. But in order to fully adhere to the invitation of a liturgical celebration that will soon enter our liturgical year, we ought to comprehend its deepest meaning. The invocations to […]

After the summit

      The spotlight has dimmed in Sofia, the venue of a summit between EU leaders and those of the Six Western Balkans Countries: Serbia, Albania, Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, held May 16-17. But the path that could lead the region to become a member of the European common home, in due […]

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AT RISK

“The Catholic Church in Bulgaria is deeply worried about the draft law on religions that would put our community in a very difficult situation”, Msgr. Christo Proykov, Apostolic Exarch, President of the Bulgarian Bishops, told SIR. In his view the amendments are “discriminatory and place some confessions in a privileged position to the detriment of others, […]

Summit in Singapore

“The momentum for peace must now be continued.” “A resumption of military confrontation risks a catastrophic conflict in the region.” Thus the new reconciliation and peace process “should be respected and supported by the international community.” The appeal to act with responsibility in this delicate phase of the negotiations was conveyed to SIR by Peter […]

The State of the Union

Today we Europeans can look back on what we have accomplished in the last seventy years with great pride. This great history of freedom has brought unimaginable benefits in the aftermath of World War II. Lasting peace, democracy rooted in the Rule of Law and in freedom of expression, the fall of walls, open borders […]

Interview

The Katholikentag, the great meeting of German Catholics, which enters its 101st year, will take place in Münster, May 9 to 13. The theme of this year’s event is “Seeking peace.” The impressive organization for the five-day meeting is in full gear, with over one thousand planned events and 45 registered participants. “Over 100 Katholikentag […]

Analyses and Proposals

An intense, lengthy document was presented in Germany with the intention of resuming the reflection on economic and sustainable growth and seek to define a new understanding of development, “more sustainable” than the one enshrined in the 1992 Rio Declaration that paved the way to the Millennium Development Goals. “Outside a growth-oriented society? An ethical […]

End-of-life

Our consciences are stirred by the precarious living conditions of Vincent Lambert, in France, and Alfie Evans, in England, and by the intention of two Courts of Justice to end their life by interrupting nutrition and hydration;  despite the fact that the mother and brother of Vincent and the parents of Alfie are opposing their […]