Italy: Plenary of the bishops

The 57th General Assembly of the Italian Bishops (CEI) opened in the Vatican on 21 May (until 25 May) with a keynote address by Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa; the delegates were also greeted by the Apostolic Nuncio in Italy Monsignor Francesco Bertello, and delegate bishops of foreign Bishops’ Conferences. The main theme of […]

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Germany: against right-wing extremism

“Proceeding firmly against right-wing extremism”: that is the priority enunciated by the Federal Committee of the KJG (Katholische Jungen Gemeinde), the youth association of the Catholic Church in Germany that can claim some 80,000 members (children and youths), organized in 24 diocesan associations. In a communiqué issued on 18 May, the KJG urges political leaders […]

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Great Britain: signatures against active euthanasia

In the Catholic parishes of Great Britain, signatures were collected last weekend to protest against the initiative of the “Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology”, which recently asked doctors and nurses to consider the option to let premature babies affected by major malformations die. A sort of “active euthanasia”, given the number of disabled children […]

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LITHUANIA

Still on the margins?

A history of Lithuania by Claudio Carpini (published by Città Nuova) was recently presented at the Book Fair in Turin. Lithuania was in fact the guest country at the book fair. It’s a country that is seeking greater consideration of its own identity, as explained by IRENA VAISVILAITE , adviser to the President of the […]

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POLAND

“Three Plus” for large families

The Union of Large Families “Three Plus” was officially launched in Poland in recent days. Its main aim is to promote a policy for large families and campaign against their discrimination. The chairperson of the new association, Joanna Krupska, inaugurating the activities of “Three Plus”, said that one of the paradoxes of the situation of […]

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The indomitable athlete of Christ

The 350th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Andrew Bobola, Jesuit and Polish missionary in the land of what is now Poland, Belarus and Lithuania, was celebrated in Warsaw recently. The solemn Mass in the sanctuary dedicated to the saint was presided over by the Primate of Poland Cardinal Jozef Glemp, while the homily was […]

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The Church in opinion polls

55% of Poles identify with the Church and define themselves as “believers who put into practice the teaching of the Church”: that’s the finding of a recent opinion poll published by the Polish polling agency CBOS. Despite that, almost 40% of Poles prefer the looser definition “believer, but in my own way”, thus underlining their […]

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ECUMENISM

Russia: act of communion of the Orthodox Church

The act of canonical communion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church abroad was signed by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexei II and the Primate of the Church abroad Metropolitan Lavr at a ceremony in the historic church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on 17 May. So, after […]

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Germany: new impulses for dialogue

“New impulses for ecumenism”: this is the hope of Cardinal Joachim Meisner for the 31st Kirchentag (Convention) of the German Evangelical Church due to be held in “Catholic” Cologne from 6 to 10 June. Interviewed by the German Catholic press agency KNA, the Archbishop of Cologne commended the idea of holding the event in the […]

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Italy: “Together towards Sibiu”

“Together towards Sibiu”, a spontaneous group of Christian associations, has produced an ecumenical aid to provide information on and encourage participation in the Third European Ecumenical Assembly (AEE3) due to be held in Sibiu (Romania) from 4 to 9 September. The “Ecumenical Kit” can be requested on the website: cipax-romalibero.it In March 2007 the Claudiana […]

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