Portugal: fatima, sister lucy’s house will become an old people’s home

The house of the prophetess of Fatima, Sister Lucy, in the Good Jesus of Braga, will be converted into an old people’s home. The project was announced a few days ago, during a ceremony in the Carmelite community of the Immaculate Conception of the Good Jesus in Braga, where the prophetess used to live. According […]

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Austria: election of the parish councils

Parish councils are “the spinal column of the parishes”. The Bishop of Linz, Ludwig Schwarz, has appealed to Catholics to take part in the elections of the parish councils, scheduled for Sunday 18 March. According to Bishop Schwarz, without the parish councils, “the Church would be far poorer”: for they “bring people closer to the […]

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Germany: Stuttgart, 25th anniversary of youth centre

The 25th anniversary of the opening of the International Centre of Spirituality for Youth, founded on the initiative of the diocese and province of the Scalabrinian missionaries for migrants, was celebrated in Stuttgart in recent days. Some 200 people of 18 different nationalities were present at the meeting. The project developed by the Centre in […]

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YOUTH

The European dream

A Europe for everyone, a Europe of many cultures, a Europe renewed, without barriers, more just and caring – that’s the Europe dreamt of by the Catholic university youth who met with Benedict XVI on Saturday 10 March on the occasion of the 5th European Day of University Students on the theme “Intellectual charity, way […]

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MIGRANTS

At the service of integration

“The reform of the law on immigration must really improve the situation of those whose presence has been tolerated for many years”, declared the representative of the Council of the German Evangelical Church (EKD), STEPHAN REIMERS, and the director of the Commissariat of the German bishops in Berlin, Msgr. KARL JÜSTEN , commenting on the […]

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Declarations of intent

The most explicit was GRAHAM WATSON , English MEP, head of the Liberal Democratic group, who called “bizarre” the fact that “a declaration should be discussed without a draft being available”. On Wednesday 14 March the European Parliament debated, together with the representatives of the EU Commission and Council, the “Declaration on the Future of […]

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COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Essential rights

Relation between freedom of expression and religious beliefs; fight against terrorism and the security of citizens: two questions much in the news today on which the Council of Europe is promoting new initiatives between March and April this year. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, RESPECT FOR RELIGIONS. “Blasphemy, insults of a religious character and instigation to religious […]

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Regions for economic growth

Using to the best the opportunities provided by the structural funds of the European Union to improve cohesion, foster growth and create better quality jobs: that’s the objective of the new Eu initiative “Regions for economic growth” inaugurated by the Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hubner and by the chairman of the Committee of the […]

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Unemployment falling

Good news has once again come out of Brussels on the front of efforts to reduce unemployment in the Eu. According to data published by Eurostat last week and referring to January 2007, the unemployment rate in the Eurozone has dropped to 7.4%, a fall of a tenth of a percentage point over the previous […]

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Inflation also falling

Progress has also been reported on the inflation front, where the positive trend begun at the end of 2005 continues. In January 2007, in fact, the Eurozone registered a rate of 1.8%, against 1.9% in the previous month and 2.4% in January 2006: the EU-27 shows a more contained improvement: 2.1% for January (compared with […]

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