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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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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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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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

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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ECUMENISM

France: Alexei II invited by Cardinal Ricard

Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow has accepted an invitation of Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux and President of the French Bishops’ Conference, to visit Paris and meet the Christians of France on the occasion of his visit to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The visit – the first ever to be made by […]

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Anglican Communion: towards the General Synod

The Anglican General Synod will meet in York from 5 to 7 July. At the top of the agenda of the organ that controls the Church of England, and that is composed of bishops, clergy and laity, is the “Anglican Covenant”, or “Anglican Pact”: the deal that is calculated to prevent a schism in the […]

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Moscow: conference on Christian values

An international conference with the title “Christianity, culture and moral values” was held at the headquarters of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow on 19-21 June. The meeting, which brought together some fifty scholars from Russia, Great Britain, Italy and the USA, had been promoted by the Academy of Sciences, the Department of External Relations […]

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Poland: “the human person, way for Europe”

“The human person – way for Europe” was the title of the 7th Ecumenical Assembly of Gniezno, held in the ancient Polish capital from 15 to 17 June. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, addressing the over 600 participants from all over Europe, underlined the need “to oppose the threats of the contemporary world […]

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EUROPEAN UNION

A firm and unanimous “no”

At least in its campaign against the death sentence the European Union shows no signs of backtracking or defections. The summit of Foreign Ministers of the 27, held in Luxembourg on 18 June, in fact gave rise to a unanimous agreement to take a resolution for a universal moratorium on capital punishment to the General […]

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