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CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS " "

Expectations are rising and joy growing as Christmas approaches: that’s the spirit in which Advent is experienced by European Catholic youth in whom there seems to be strong attachment to their Christmas traditions, including games, dinners and festivities but also symbolic gestures and elements of folklore linked to ancient village life. The Christmas that emerges […]

WYD 2005" "

It’s a special Christmas, the one being celebrated by the German Church this year: the slogan of WYD in Cologne “We have come to adore him” takes concrete form with the birth of Jesus and the visit of the Three Magi. The words of the Magi “Venimus adorare eum” are also the title of the […]

In a recent document Catholics are urged to “become the travelling companions” of migrants and realize an “integral ministry” that may involve the various fields with a view to the preaching of the Gospel and evangelization. To this end “the establishment, or consolidation” of “forms of coordination, agile and flexible, but stable and recognized”, within […]

“We are convinced that the phenomenon that distinguishes the religious situation of our time is the fragmentation and schism of the message by the practice of the Catholic faith. That’s why the Christian faith is losing its power of synthesis and the consequence is that many people in present-day society have difficulty is seeing what […]

“Christmas challenges our increasingly bland secular culture. The time-honoured picture of the child in the stable, attended by Mary and Jesus, moves us gently through the commotion of gifts and shopping to the innocence and wonder of childhood and the fascinating miracle of a new human life”, write the bishops of the diocese of Clogher […]

“Clean up your computer campaign” is the project launched by CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, for Christmas this year. CAFOD has in fact discovered that British families will spend this year approximately one and a half billion pounds, over two billion euros, on personal computers between Christmas and the New Year. But most […]

advent" "

“It seems impossible to be able to invent a secular celebration of Christmas, without any religious reference. On the contrary, it is already a reality”, declares Archbishop Fernando Sebastián Aguilar, archbishop of Pamplona-Tudela and vice-president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, in a pastoral letter published on 13 December, commenting on the widespread “secular” attitude to […]

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The year that is coming to an end has been an important one for Europe and for the European Union. The enlargement to 25, the signing of the Constitutional Treaty, the decision to start negotiations on Turkey’s membership (not envisaged before 2014), and the fixing of a timetable for the accession of Balkan countries (Romania, […]

Austria-germany" "

Christmas: festival of faith or merely of consumerism? The tendency to transform Christian holidays into an occasion for shopping can already be detected in the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is also taking place in Catholic Austria, as emphasized by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn , president of the Episcopal Conference and archbishop of Vienna: “It […]

The municipal authorities of Czestochowa, the Polish city famous for its sanctuary of the Black Madonna or of Jasna Gòra (Mountain of Light) and called “the spiritual capital of Poland”, have paid an official visit to the Holy Land. The mayor of the city, Tadeusz Wrona, accompanied by a delegation, signed two twinning decrees: the […]