ENGLAND

Not just talk

Permitting abortion up to 24 weeks, generating hybrid, half human half animal, embryos for research purposes, the eugenic selection of the healthiest embryos created in the laboratory during IVF, giving cohabiting couples, including gay couples, the same rights as married couples. Just before the Pro-life day that is to be celebrated all over the United […]

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PORTUGAL

Peace on the agenda

Manuela Silva, chairman of the national Commission for Justice and Peace (CNJP), has indicated what ought to be the priorities for the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union (from 1 July 2007). They range from poverty to migration: “The role that civil society can and must play in the promotion of sustainable global development and […]

di Manuela Silva

COMECE: eighth summer university

“European cultures: the challenge of diversity and unity” is the theme of the eighth Summer University of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE), due to be held in the educational centre at Seggau, near Graz (Austria) from 30 June to 14 July. The summer school will have university status, with two […]

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COMECE: the results of the EU summit positive

“We welcome the decision to confer a clear mandate on an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to realize an institutional reform of the EU”, comments the Commission of the episcopate of the European Community (COMECE), in expressing its satisfaction for the results of the European Council (Brussels, 21-22 June). On the project for a “reform treaty”, which […]

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CCEE-COMECE

CCEE : meeting in Croatia on vocations

The crisis of vocations in Europe represents a “great problem” and a cause of “deep concern” for the Church. For vocations are fundamental for “ensuring the proclamation of the Gospel in Europe today”, said Father Jean-Pierre Leroy, who heads the Office for Vocations of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference, in presenting the programme for the next […]

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Spain: dying for peace in the Middle East

“Those who turn their life into a service for others in the quest for peace and brotherhood are pleasing to God. This is the soldier’s vocation”, said Spain’s military Ordinary, Archbishop Francisco Pérez, in commemorating the six Spanish soldiers serving on the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, who were killed in a terrorist attack on […]

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Austria: plenary of the bishops in the Holy Land

The autumn plenary session of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference will be held in the Holy Land from 4 to 10 November, as “sign of solidarity with the Christians of the country who are going through a difficult situation”. The decision to hold their next plenary in the Holy Land was taken by the Austrian bishops […]

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MIDDLE EAST

Germany: “solidarity with Lebanese Christians”

“The Christians of the Lebanon have a need for our solidarity”, said Johannes Friedrich, Evangelical Bishop of Munich, and Catholic Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke, Auxiliary Bishop of Hamburg, who appealed on behalf of Lebanese Christians in Beirut in recent days. Friedrich and Jaschke are heading a joint delegation of the Evangelical Church (EKD) and German Bishops’ […]

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Spain: criticisms of the new law on education

The Spanish bishops have once again pronounced on the organic law on education (LOE). They did so at the end of the meeting of the permanent Commission of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, held in recent days. The bishops’ statement, reports the Fides press agency, follows that of 28 February in which it was explained that […]

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Turkey: Antioch, feast of Saints Peter and Paul

The Millennium complex in Antioch, comprising 17 apartments for the elderly and the poor and 2 large rooms for recreational and cultural activities, in large part financed by Italian Caritas, will be inaugurated in the Turkish city on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The ecumenical dimension of the feast will be emphasized by […]

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