Redazione

It will be Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth who will inaugurate the 8th General Synod of the Church of England on Thursday 15 November. The inauguration will be preceded by a eucharistic ceremony officiated by the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and for the first time a woman will preach during the service. She is the […]

Theological dialogue between the Vatican and the Orthodox Churches, suspended for several years, will be resumed in December with a meeting in Rome of the mixed Catholic-Orthodox Commission, said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, speaking at a press conference in Rome. Kasper explained that the December meeting would prepare […]

ECUMENISM" "

The Greek government, through the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Archbishop of Athens Christodoulos, primate of the Church of Greece, have reaffirmed the ecumenical character of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and denounced the Turkish government that refuses to recognise the primate who fills the see of Constantinople in the Orthodox world. […]

ROME-MOSCOW " "

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo left for Moscow on Wednesday 26 October. It’s his first visit to Russia since John Paul II entrusted to him the post of Vatican Secretary of Relations with States, in effect the “Foreign Minister” of the Holy See. Archbishop Lajolo is in Moscow for a “working visit” on the invitation of Russian […]

AFTER THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS " "

“The Eucharist: source and culmination of the life and mission of the Church”: that was the theme of the 11th ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in the Vatican from 2 to 23 October. Three weeks of work attended by over 250 Synodal Fathers from all over the world, to mark the […]

The President of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, presented Benedict XVI with a bronze statue of St. Boniface in the Vatican on 21 October. Lehmann expressed “gratitude and great joy” at being able to donate the statue to the pope two months after the end of WYD in Cologne. On the previous day, […]

“Caritas rejects the current tendencies to legalise active euthanasia”, declared the President of German Caritas, Peter Neher, at Freiburg on 21 October. Neher also welcomed the decision of the Federal Minister for Health, Ulla Schmidt, to increase investments for the development of palliative treatments. “Declarations like that of the senator of Hamburg for justice, Roger […]

A substantial drop in the number of apostasies and a growth of faithful who return to the Catholic Church: that is the most significant finding of the document “Fundamental data of ecclesial life in German dioceses for 2004”, published on 21 October. 9,004 faithful rejoined the Catholic Church during the year, almost double the figure […]

GERMANY" "

The liturgical institutes of Germany, Austria and Switzerland published a brochure containing ten models and aids for the commemoration of the dead in parishes on 21 October. The models, which represent various situations (especially tragic cases, the death of newborn infants, death at advanced age, and commemoration of the dead on the feast of All […]

UKRAINE " "

“Today finally the government no longer raises obstacles to the pastoral activity of our Church. We have 21 eparchies (dioceses) and 30 bishops in the country: a result that would have been unimaginable ten years ago”. Bishop STANISLAV PADEWSKI of Kharkiv-Zaposirhia has expressed moderate satisfaction about the present situation of the Church in his country […]