France: two great youth rallies

12,000 youth aged between 13 and 15 from the Ile-de-France congregated at Jambville (Yvelines) from 25 to 28 May for the annual Catholic youth rally called “Frat”, abbreviation for “Fraternel”. The theme chosen for this year’s rally was “I have called you friends”. The teenagers were led by Bishop Gérard Dacourt of Nanterre, who exhorted […]

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UNITED KINGDOM

Citizens, not strangers

A shortcut for the right to citizenship of half a million illegal immigrants who have been living and working in the UK for years: the proposal to grant permanent residence status to those whose visa has expired, but who have lived here for at least four years and had a work permit for two years, […]

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YOUTH AND WORK

For love of their land

They open their doors to tourists to help promote local traditions and, at the same time, create opportunities of work and help build a future for their territory. Two similar projects, in Albania and in Sardinia (Italy), are being run by enterprising youth, who use websites to promote them. It’s an interesting idea that other […]

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EU PARLIAMENT

More or less Europe?

Different opinions, different solutions: the debate is heating up between those who want “more” and those who want “less” Europe. German Chancellor Merkel is stepping up her consultations in preparation for the summit of 21-22 June, which ought to define the road map for approving the Constitutional Treaty. The European Parliament for its part is […]

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FRONT PAGE

Ukraine, what future?

The agreement reached on the night of Sunday 27 May between Ukrainian President Victor Yuscenko, Prime Minister Victor Yanukovic and the President of the Parliament Oleksander Moroz seems for the time being to have put an end to the political crisis unleashed in the country in recent days. The compromise establishes, among other things, early […]

di Pavlo Vyshkovkyy Ukraine

CCEE

The roots in life

“A cordial discussion to review and reinforce cooperation between Ccee and Comece”, said Cardinal PETER ERDÖ, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and President of the Ccee (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe), summing up the meeting held in Berlin in recent days between the executives of the Ccee and Comece (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of […]

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Turkey: terrorist attack in Ankara

No official comment has been made by the Turkish Bishops’ Conference on the terrorist attack in Ankara that cost the lives of six people. “We are close to the families of the victims, and to the injured (over 50) – said the spokesman of the bishops, Mons. Georges Marovitch, in a briefing to SIR -; […]

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Spain: the identity of the Catholic school

The 17th world assembly of the International Office of Catholic Education (IOCE), representing over 100 representatives of Catholic schools throughout the world, ended at Santiago de Compostela in Spain on 25 May. Archbishop Julián Barrio of Santiago, in his address to the meeting, recalled “the mood of uncertainty that Catholic schools are experiencing at the […]

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Poland: in defence of life and of the family

A great demonstration in favour of life and the family was held in Warsaw on Sunday, 20 May. According to the police, there were less than a thousand participants, but according to the organizers there were well over three thousand by the end of the day. They flocked to the capital from all over Poland […]

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Germany: criticisms of bill on right of asylum

In a joint communiqué, German Caritas and its Evangelical counterpart Diakonie, through their respective Presidents, have sharply criticised the bill presented by the Federal Government for the application of EU directives on right to residence and asylum. “In its present version, the bill responds neither to humanitarian standards nor to European objectives”, declared Peter Neher […]

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