Paolo Bustaffa Director of SIR

FRONT PAGE

“In this age of ours, in some respects distinguished by great progress but also dominated by a culture that tries to neutralise the Christian presence in society by relegating faith to the private sphere, the ‘common European home’ must be supported on principles able to strengthen it, illuminate it and give it a soul”. It […]

The Resolution approved by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on 4 October urges the governments of the 47 member states to “firmly” oppose the teaching of creationism in European schools. The vote on the Resolution divided the assembly: 48 votes in favour, 25 against. The Resolution cited “cases” of support for […]

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

It was a session with an agenda packed with important issues and with some distinguished guests, including the Patriarch of Moscow Alexei II and the newly elected Turkish President Abdullah Gul. But it was also a chequered time in the history of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), held in Strasbourg from […]

The English bishops recently had a meeting with Christopher Toohey, the Australian bishop and founder of “Catholic Earth Care Australia”, the Catholic environmental agency that over the last five years has specialized in actions to protect the environment. The aim of the meeting was to enable English bishops to understand how to promote ecological initiatives. […]

“Blessed is the fruit of your womb”: that’s the slogan of the day for life held in Ireland on 7 October. In their message the Irish bishops declared that the material enrichment of Irish society has been accompanied by a moral decline. “We fear in our culture a crisis of the system of values that […]

Analyzing current tensions between Church and Portuguese government, in a recent meeting with journalists at the monastery of São Vicente de Fora, Cardinal José Policarpo maintained that “readiness for dialogue and the objective analysis of the situations are the best way for the Church to show her willingness to perform an important service in society”. […]

The recent sentence issued by the International Penal Tribunal in The Hague on three former Yugoslav officers accused of the massacre of Vukovar in 1991 has been received with some bitterness by public opinion in Croatia, believing the sentences inflicted by the court too lenient. The Commission of Justice and Peace of the Croatian Bishops’ […]

“Challenges of society, challenge of the Gospel” is the theme of the session that the Bishops’ Conference of France is planning for youth at the Catholic University in Angers from 19 to 21 October. The session – explains a statement issued by the Service for Family and Social Questions of the Bishops’ Conference that is […]

“The memory of the contribution of Catholics and the new responsibilities that the future involves” for a “project of democracy” that would combine “the defence of rights with the appeal to duties”: these are the two key ideas that will be the focal points of the 45th Social Week of Italian Catholics, due to be […]

Apart from marriage, the family and ecumenism, other issues including the Church in Europe, cooperation with Africa, communications and the world of prisons were debated during the plenary assembly of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) held in Fatima (Portugal) from 3 to 7 October, marking the 90th anniversary of the apparitions. […]