JEWS AND EUROPE

An original stamp

The diaspora of the Jewish people is not only the consequence of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD, but is also linked to the travels and trade of Jewish merchants in the Mediterranean, from the 3rd century BC onwards, in particular from Alexandria in Egypt. “The most ancient communities of the […]

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COMECE

The three challenges

Following the end of the six months’ German Presidency, Portugal assumed the chairmanship of the European Council on 1st July. The July/August number of “Europe infos”, monthly of COMECE (Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community) and OCIPE (Catholic Office of Information and Initiative for Europe), focuses its attention on this change of guard […]

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Centenary of the Virgin of Guadalupe

The Region of Estremadura is celebrating the first centenary of the canonical patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe over this region. The celebration of the popular feast will take place on 8 September; the Eucharist will be presided over by the Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares. The programme of events for this centenary also […]

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Youth mission the primary objective

“It’s essential that the young be enabled to discover that Christian life is possible today, and is also reasonable and realizable. But if they are to do so, it is necessary they find people, whether in their own age group or older persons, who live the Christian faith in a joyful and coherent way”. The […]

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Breaking the silence about God

“In our time what most undermines faith in God is the invisibility, the silence of God, his concealment, in a world in which only what it visible counts: concrete facts, tangible results, real data, everything that must be totally visible and perceptible”, said Archbishop Julián Barrio of Santiago di Compostela. The archbishop was speaking at […]

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SPAIN

Cardinal speaks out on education in citizenship

The Spanish episcopate has once again intervened on the new school subject introduced by the Zapatero government, “Education in Citizenship”: the Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, urged that the Catholic Church should intervene against the new subject because “the government cannot impose a model of moral education”, also because that would be in contravention […]

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Greece: fires, Catholic bishops appeal for funds

The Greek Bishops’ Conference has launched an emergency fund-raising appeal to help relieve the victims of the disastrous forest fires that have laid waste the country in recent weeks, causing death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. With the death on 5 September of a soldier badly burned in the rescue attempt, the number of […]

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Austria: the Pope’s visit, aid to Ugandan children

A poster campaign and a wholly new website: so Missio, the Pontifical Mission-Aid Societies of Austria, is preparing to welcome the Pope during his forthcoming visit to the Marian sanctuary of Mariazell (7-9 September). In the posters Benedict XVI is portrayed with four children and the slogan of the visit, “Look to Christ”. The choice […]

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England: hybrid embryos rejected by the bishops

“Human beings have a unique nature specifically distinct from the natures of all other animals”; therefore it is right to pose the ethical question whether “it is right to transgress that species boundary and attempt to mix human and animal natures in however limited a fashion”. So said Peter Smith, archbishop of Cardiff and head […]

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Poland: getting to know the Ecumenical Charter better

“In Poland the ideals of the Charta oecumenica have been diffused but they are still not sufficiently well known”, said Msgr. Tadeusz Pikus, who chairs the Council for Ecumenism within the Polish Bishops’ Conference (KEP). The bishop was speaking just a few days before the inauguration of the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu. “The […]

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