Redazione

Belgium" "

“Religions, spirituality, ‘laicity’: factors of tolerance and brotherhood, or factors of division or exclusion?” On this question the representatives of various religious confessions met together in the Parliament in Brussels on 25 September for a colloquium organized as part of the programme of events marking the Day for peace to be celebrated in 7 October. […]

If Buddhism exerts so much “fascination” in Europe it’s because people are ignorant of the spiritual heritage of Christianity. That’s why the churches “need to help Europeans to rediscover the spiritual richness of the Christian message”. The suggestion is made by a Buddhist master, of Swiss nationality, linked ever since his adolescence with the Japanese […]

Buddhism" "

A vision of the world and a religious practice that arouse sympathy: that’s how Buddhism presents itself to the eyes of Westerners. It’s a religion with a large following in the West (statistics speak of a million or so believers), present in all countries of the continent. To grasp the scale of the phenomenon, some […]

An “agora”, a forum where people can meet and exchange experiences and ideas: that’s the aim of a meeting organized by Italy’s national Service for youth apostolate and national Office for missionary cooperation, in collaboration with the “John Paul II” Centre of spirituality. It’s called the “Agora of Mediterranean youth” which aims to promote, through […]

No to a university “subordinated to and conditional on” the needs of production and the market, yes to a university capable of reaffirming the “reasons for believing” to contemporary man, through a language endowed with “a profound cultural quality”, but at the same time not abstract or “separate” from the reality of daily life. This, […]

universities" "

Preparing the Symposium to be held in Rome, from 24 to 27 July 2003, on the theme: “Church and university in Europe”: that’s the main objective of the meeting of the national delegates of university apostolate and of the coordination Group of the European Committee of university chaplains, scheduled to be held in Madrid from […]

the banning of landmines" "

Five years since the Ottawa Treaty on the banning of landmines, over 34 million anti-personnel mines, of which 7 million in the last year, have been destroyed by 61 countries. But in spite of this reduction, the arsenals of 94 countries (especially in China, Russia, the USA, Ukraine, Pakistan, India, Belarus) still remain stockpiled with […]

PESC – The objective of a “common foreign and security policy” for the EU was spelt out in the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992. Without prejudice to the rights of individual member states on matters of foreign policy and the obligations deriving from UN membership, the role of the EU’s common foreign and security policy […]

A firm ‘no’ to a war on Iraq was expressed on 19 September by the Catholic movement Pax Christi. In a communiqué addressed to the President of the French Republic and to the media, the movement declared its appreciation for the words that Chirac himself had addressed to the United Nations, recalling the need to […]

Iraq" "

In spite of its common foreign and security policy and common defence policy, the European Union seems deeply divided on the option of a military attack on Iraq. Germany and France have expressed reservations about the US doctrine of “preventive war”. The United Kingdom and Italy do not exclude the possibility of an armed intervention. […]