Redazione

An independent enquiry into the scandal of sexual abuses of children has been decided by the bishops of the Irish Episcopal Conference, gathered in extraordinary session after the resignation of the bishop of Ferns, Brendan Oliver Comiskey, on 6 April. Bishop Comiskey is accused by a BBC documentary of failing promptly to denounce a priest, […]

She’s thirty-eight years old, married with four children: Marie-Caroline de Marliave has just been appointed the new director of communications of the French Episcopal Conference. It’s the first time that the French episcopate has assigned such a post to a woman, hitherto filled either by priests or religious. She will share responsibility for acting as […]

“A profound sense of duty, unfailing good humour, a life that permitted millions of others to live” . So the archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, primate of the Church of England, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, archbishop of Westminister, remembered the Queen Mother during her funeral service in Westminster Abbey in London. The Anglican archbishop gave […]

“The promotion of the Christian laity, in Vatican Council II’s vision of the Church, is also achieved through the various forms of lay association, among which a particular role is played by Catholic Action”. So say the Italian bishops, in a letter sent to Catholic Action on 10 April. The Italian Episcopal Conference calls Catholic […]

The challenges of biomedicine and genetic techniques are at the centre of a pastoral letter “Life in the Upper Rhine”, issued jointly by the bishops of Basel, Fribourg and Strasbourg, the basin of the Upper Rhine, and presented in Basel on 8 April. “The dignity of human life from conception to death must be respected […]

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Spanish premier and current president of the European Union José Maria Aznar opened the second UN world assembly on ageing in Madrid on 8 April. The assembly, which will continue till 12 April, is devoted to the theme “A society for all ages”. The Spanish prime minister, worried by […]

Czech Republic

“Today Europe finds itself at one of the most important crossroads in its history. For the first time it has the chance to give itself a system based on fair and democratic principles”: from this consideration Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, took his cue in a wide-ranging reflection on “Europe and the World” […]

Directive 92/85/EEC of the Council, of 19/10/1992, concerning the implementation of measures aimed at promoting the improvement of the health and safety at work of pregnant women workers or young mothers with infant children (1992); Regulation (EC) no. 1643/95 of the Council, of 29/6/1995, amending Regulation (EC) no. 2062/94 relating to the establishment of a […]

The reform of the labour market is considered of crucial importance for the campaign against unemployment and for development in all the member states of the European Union. The last European Council, held in Barcelona on 15 and 16 March, tackled the question, placing the emphasis on flexibility and stressing the need for structural reforms […]

Although their educational level is among the highest in the world, European youngsters are those who bear most of the brunt of the crisis of the labour market. Short-term contracts, compulsory flexibility, part time. And so long as they do not remain unemployed, young people are prepared to accept any conditions. What are the consequences? […]