Redazione

Citizens’ initiative: the right to water The first civic initiative to complete the last leap is for a “public good”, water. Only ten months after the entry into force of the regulation on citizens’ initiative (introduced with the Lisbon Treaty), Europeans seized the opportunity offered by institutions to voice their claims. For the first time […]

FRANCE

“Terminal sedation” to terminal patients that made “persistent, lucid and repeated requests”. The term is contained in the “public position” released by the French National Medical Council on the theme: “End of life, assistance to terminal patients”. In the text, the Medical Association invokes “a duty of humaneness” mentioning “exceptional cases” such as “prolonged agonies […]

GREECE

“The social and economic situation of the Country worsens day after day, misery extends to encompass ever greater sectors of the population. The government plans to adopt a new law to increase taxes without considering the economic situation of families, of those with no money, who can’t even afford to pay their bills and buy […]

EUROPEAN UNION

The stakes are too high to put up with a watered-down deal. It’s the stand of most MEPs in view of the European Council of February 8, which launched a 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework Proposal. The Council proposed commitments for 960 billion, with 908 euro for actual payments – far less than the sums requested […]

Iniziativa dei cittadini: diritto all’acquaLa prima iniziativa civica che taglia il traguardo è per il “bene pubblico” acqua. Appena dieci mesi dopo l’entrata in vigore del regolamento sulla Iniziativa dei cittadini (novità introdotta dal Trattato di Lisbona), gli europei hanno approfittato della possibilità offerta dalle istituzioni per far sentire la loro voce. Per la prima […]

CHURCHES IN BRIEF

Hungary: Bishops reward online journalistFor the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, Saint patron of journalists, the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference usually organizes an annual meeting of Catholic journalists. In the Year of Faith the emphasis was placed on the importance of proclaiming the Gospel, and one way to convey the message is proclaiming the […]

EDITORIAL

So-called transitional papacies are not to be trusted! In 1958, John XXIII was presented to us as old (he was 77), as well as a conservative and transitional Pope… He revolutionized the face of the Church by summoning the Second Vatican Council, and giving it the means to work in freedom. In 2005, when Benedict […]

CHURCHES IN BRIEF

Austria: president on the refugees in the church in Vienna “People who take on what you have taken on deserve to be taken seriously”, Austrian president Heinz Fischer wrote in a letter – released February 14 – to the 40 political refugees who, since mid-December, have been living in a church in the centre of […]

LA RINUNCIA DEL PAPA

"A casa si è là dove si ha il proprio rifugio. Lo spirito tuttavia non può rimanere nella sua calda, struggente patria. Per questo si diparte. Esso ‘ama’ le colonie, si cerca, cioè, dimenticando coraggiosamente l’antica felicità, una nuova patria da fondare, il luogo di un nuovo essere e rimanere a casa". Il grande filosofo […]

BENEDETTO XVI

Bisogna decisamente diffidare dei pontificati cosiddetti di transizione! Nel 1958, Giovanni XXIII ci era stato presentato come un Papa anziano (aveva 77 anni), conservatore e di transizione… Ha scombussolato il volto della Chiesa convocando il Concilio Vaticano II, e dandogli i mezzi per lavorare in libertà. Nel 2005, ci è stato presentato Benedetto XVI, eletto […]