Spain: bishops’ assembly

The plenary assembly of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference opened in Madrid on 27 March. Until 31 March the bishops will resume their reflection on the new Law on techniques for assisted reproduction, already the object of a Statement put out by permanent Council of the episcopate on 9 February, under the title “In response to […]

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COMECE

An active presence

The Most Rev. ADRIANUS VAN LUYN , bishop of Rotterdam, is the new President of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community). A member of the Salesians, Van Luyn has headed the Dutch diocese since 1993. He will lead COMECE for the next three years, flanked by two Vice-Presidents: the Most Rev. DIARMUID […]

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EUROPEAN COUNCIL

Neither bombast, nor pessimism

As always on such occasions, there was no shortage of bombast. Indeed, it risks overshadowing the latent problems and obfuscating the results effectively achieved. Leaving aside the empty rhetoric, the skirmishes between leaders and the euro-scepticism expressed by many, we may attempt an overall assessment of the European Council held in Brussels on 23-24 March. […]

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front page

Eta: now for the final step

The ceasefire announced by ETA (the armed Basque separatist movement), which has killed eight hundred people in Spain over the last ten years, is good news. ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna or Basque Country and Liberty) announced a permanent truce on 22 March, or rather a “ceasefire”, and this in itself is considered very positive. No […]

di Miriam Diez Bosch Spain

belarus

Still under the spotlight

Three days after the elections of Sunday 19 March, which reconfirmed (with 82.6% of the votes) Aleksander Lukashenko as President of Belarus (the country he has led since 1994), the public protests of opponents of the regime continue. They accuse the leadership of electoral fraud and have called a mass national protest demonstration for next […]

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Ireland: intercultural week

“The civil law establishes essential principles, but to construct a society that is really inclusive, welcoming and respectful of people of different cultures, languages and traditions, something more is needed”, declares the Archbishop of Armagh Seán Brady, in his message for the feast of St. Patrick, patron of Ireland, celebrated on 17 March. “In the […]

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Spain: from Jerusalem to Murcia

A reliquary containing a fragment of the True Cross, preserved in the convent of San Salvador In Jerusalem, was donated by the Custodian of Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to Bishop Antonio Reig Pla of Cartagena (Spain) on 19 March. The handing over of the relic occurred during a celebration, before a group of over 200 […]

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Germany: Bible translated into Arabic, Chinese and Turkish

The initiative is that of the charity of pontifical rights “Aid to the Church in Need” (ACN), which from its headquarters in Königstein has placed on line (on www.kirche-in-not.de/kinderbibel) translations into Arabic, Chinese and Turkish of the Bible for children. The operation was made possible also thanks to the collaboration of the German Liturgical Institute. […]

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comece

Words of hope

“Danke, danke, danke”: thanks were thrice repeated by Bishop JOSEF HOMEYER in gratitude for his thirteen years at the helm of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community), to which he gave “a strong cultural impulse and increased effectiveness” at the European level. The German bishop leaves his post as President: the choice […]

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ecumenism

Taizé: frère Alois to visit Alexis II in June

Frère Alois, successor of frère Roger at the head of the Taizé Ecumenical Community was received by Archimandrite Job, dean of the Saint-Serge Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris, on 15 March. Frere Alois began by recalling the close links of frère Roger and Taizé with the Orthodox Churches: especially the close relations forged with […]

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