Promotion of agricultural products

The European Commission last week proposed a new joint legal framework for the formation of EU agricultural products both on the internal market and on the markets of third countries. The legislative simplification in question – harmonizing the two Regulations currently in force and merging them into a single text – is intended to “facilitate […]

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European dailies and periodicals

A study of the Institute of Demographic Development in Berlin on the situation in East Germany has shown that, among the younger generations, only unemployed young adult males, for the most part unskilled, remain in the countries of the former DDR. Girls, on the other hand, as soon as they have obtained their secondary school-leaving […]

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FRONT PAGE

On human dignity

For the third time since the present European Commission came into office, a meeting has been held between the President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso and some representatives of the Church and religious leaders. This meeting, chaired by Barroso, was held on 15 May and marked a new stage in the development of a […]

di Noël Treanor COMECE - Europe Infos

Austria: a “re-awakening” for youth

“Re-awakening”: that’s the motto chosen by Austrian Catholic Youth for the international youth pilgrimage to Mariazell planned between 12 and 15 August. Markus Muth, in charge of youth pastoral care, called the pilgrimage one of the “salient points” of the events organized to mark the 850th anniversary of Mariazell. Tens of thousands of young pilgrims […]

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Bulgaria: the 120th anniversary of Burdarski Geran

The 120th anniversary of one of the symbolic Catholic settlements in northern Bulgaria, Burdarski Geran, was celebrated on the last Sunday in May. Its inhabitants are in fact the descendents of the first Bulgarian Catholics who came from Ciprovzi; led by the Catholic bishop Petar Parchevich, they staged the first revolt against the Turkish occupation […]

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Ukraine: improving Church-State relations

A round table promoted by the Committee for National and Religious Affairs was held n Kiev at the end of May on the theme: “The priorities of state policy in the sphere of freedom of conscience: ways of realization”. Representatives of the Catholic Church of Byzantine rite, the Orthodox Church and Sheik Ahmed Tamim, leader […]

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FRANCE

Paris: opens the bishops’ “House”

The new “House” of the French Bishops’ Conference was shown on 29 May. It is located in the heart of Paris. “Giving the Church a new visibility”; “strengthening work in common, synergy and collaboration among the different services (over 150 people)”; and “fostering reception and meetings between the bishops and the people in charge coming […]

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Clermont: a year of rural formation

2007-2008: a year of rural formation to “live better in the countryside”: that’s the project launched by the Church’s rural pastoral service in the Province of Auvergne. Its aim, explains a statement of the diocese of Clermont, is to devote “a Christian view to rural territories”. The year of rural formation, say its promoters, “does […]

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Prisons: from social death to a new life

“The prison chaplaincy is one of the great arenas for the life of the Church. In society, prison is synonymous with marginalization”, observes the Right Rev. Jean-Pierre Grallet, the new Archbishop of Strasbourg and bishop supervisor of the Catholic chaplaincy of prisons. “On the contrary, with the presence of chaplaincies, the view is reversed and […]

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PORTUGAL

Intolerable injustice

The 2007 National Conference the Portuguese Commission for Justice and Peace was held at the College of St. Brito in Lisbon on 25-26 May. Theme of the conference: “For global development and solidarity – a compromise of citizenship”. The conference voiced its concerns about the alarming social situation in Portugal. Based on Eurostat data, the […]

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