Gian Andrea Garancini - Brussels" "" "" "

EU Council

More concise than usual, the conclusions of the European Council, held in Barcelona on 15 and 16 March, revolve around seven key points: 1) energy, 2) economic reforms, 3) sustainable development, 4) “Galileo” project, 5) financial markets, 6) steel war, 7) peace in the Middle East. 1) The liberalization of the gas and electricity markets […]

Austria

The plenary assembly of Austrian bishops, under the presidency of Cardinal Christopher Schönborn, opened in the Voralberg, close to the Liechstenstein frontier, on the 19th March and is due to end on the 21st. Many issues are on the agenda: the questions linked to European integration, in particular the challenges posed by the reunification of […]

immigration

“The number of foreign students is increasing in Italy. There are almost 150,000, approximately 2% of the whole school population”, explained Marco Demarie , director of the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation, on opening the proceedings of the international conference “Community in Schools: Immigration and Schooling in Italy and in Europe” held over the last few days […]

The 10th Symposium of European bishops, to be held under the auspices of the CCEE (Council of the European Episcopal Conferences) in Rome from 24 to 28 April, will also be attended by a delegation of the KEK (a European umbrella organization representing 127 Churches of Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and Old-Catholic tradition). The delegation will […]

“ Our youngsters have been participating in World Youth Days for at least ten years. The greatest participation was during the Holy Year in Rome. But we’ll also be present at Toronto“. So declares Father Thedore Kontidis, national head of the youth pastoral service of the Greek Episcopal Conference who has described for us the […]

They seek God, but not in the Church. They’re the young Catholics of England and Wales, aged between twenty and thirty, all of them searching for God. Yet “they don’t go to Church on Sundays, they don’t participate in the services that have always punctuated the life of the Church”, says Vladimir Felzmann, chaplain to […]

Young people in Turkey are in ferment. Catholics there are only a tiny minority, but events in preparation for World Youth Day are not lacking. The Turkish Episcopal Conference reports that “a preparatory meeting for the WYD attended by young people from various communities in the country – Catholic Latins, Catholic Armenians, Catholic Syrians and […]

A Church event that will involve thousands of young people with moments of prayer, catechesis, music and cultural workshops. That’s the aim of the National Youth Day planned to be held at Zdar nad Sazavou (Czech Republic) from 13 to 18 August . Preparations for the event are intensive. “The pastoral programme – explains Katerina […]

Pilgrimages, musical evenings, prayer meetings, auction sales: just some of the many events being promoted by the Church in France and addressed at young people in particular. The memory of the 12th World Youth Day, held in Paris at the heart of the European continent in 1997, is still strong. Below we list a few […]

The national campaign of the BDKJ (League of German Catholic Youth, a national association with some 650,000 members) was presented by Wolfgang Thierse (SPD) in Berlin on 13 March. The campaign is aimed at the forthcoming elections for the renewal of the Bundestag and of the post of Chancellor, scheduled for 22 September this year. […]