Holland, appeal for dialogue with Jews” “

“An attitude of dialogue” is the indispensable premise for the closer relations with Judaism requested by the Dutch bishops in their pastoral letter “The joy of learning”, issued by the Bishops’ Conference of the Netherlands on 27 October 2005. This is the bishops’ third intervention on the subject, after those in 1999 and 1995 with […]

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Slovakia: "Big Brother" under attack” “

Accusations are being made about TV reality shows in Slovakia and controversy is being stirred between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics in fact are asking for a ban on the transmission of such programmes, while Protestants are inviting reflection on why such programmes are enjoying such enormous success. The bone of contention is the programme “VyVoleni”, […]

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Bulgaria: Christian radio on the internet” “

Broadcasts of Bulgaria’s first Christian radio station began on 19 October, the day on which the Bulgarian Orthodox Church commemorates the country’s patron saint, St. John of Rila, founder of the famous monastery of Rila, which was also visited by John Paul II. The station is called “Zion”. It was created by the monks of […]

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Belgium: Catholic song festival” “

The second annual festival of the composition of Catholic songs, Cathocréazic, will be held at Tournai in Belgium on 12 November. Numerous Catholic singers and bands, ranging from punk rock to pop folk, from blues to funk and pure rock, will alternate on the stage from 10 in the morning to 11 at night. “It’s […]

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trafficking" "

They are human beings” “

Two main proposals emerged from the European Conference on combating the trafficking of human beings, held in recent days in Florence, on the initiative of Emmaus International and Emmaus Europe: first, an appeal to European leaders to ratify the international Conventions and protocols that guarantee the human rights of the victims of trafficking; and second, […]

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europe" "

An historic mission” “

“I am convinced that enlargement is an historic mission of Europe”. MARIO MONTI , an economist of international fame, president of the Bocconi University in Milan, served as a European Commissioner for two terms, first as Commissioner in charge of the single market, financial services and tax policy (1995-99), and then as Commissioner for competition […]

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european constitution" "

Twelve months after” “

Just twelve months have gone by since the ceremony of the signing of the “Treaty adopting a Constitution for Europe”, held with great solemnity on the Capitol in Rome on 29 October 2004. Yet today it seems that a veil of silence has fallen over the fundamental Charter of the EU, which had aroused so […]

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Transferability of pension rights” “

“European citizens can henceforth change their jobs and country of residence without losing their own pension rights accrued under the various national regimes”. That’s the slogan adopted by Brussels to sum up the content of the proposed Directive “Transferability of pension rights”, presented by the European Commission last week with the objective of putting an […]

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Combating the trafficking of human beings” “

“Recognizing that to effectively tackle the trafficking of human beings an integrated approach based on respect for human rights and on the global nature of the phenomenon is needed”. That’s the key principle of the Communication on “combating the trafficking of human beings – an integrated approach and proposals for an action plan”, presented by […]

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Environmental reform” “

The European Commission has published a document on “Better regulation and thematic strategies for the environment”, with which it intends to begin the reform of EU legislation on the environment. Simplification and efficiency are the two keywords that should be applied in the months ahead to the seven thematic strategies of the 6th EU Action […]

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