ecumenism" "

Russia: message of Alexis II For the Orthodox Christmas” “

Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow has sent a message to the faithful, pastors, monasteries and “all the children of the Russian Orthodox Church” which celebrated Christmas on 7 January. The fact that Christmas is celebrated on a different day than in the West goes back to 1582, when Pope Gregorio XIII introduced a new calendar […]

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France: the reassurances of President Chirac” “

President Jacques Chirac has reassured the highest religious representatives of France that the State intends to “protect” religious liberty and “oppose all manifestations of intolerance”. He did so in the traditional exchange of good wishes to mark the beginning of the new year, held at the Elysée on 6 January. Present at the ceremony were […]

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30 years of struggle against torture and the death sentence” “

ACAT, the Action of Christians for the abolition of torture, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its foundation in 2004. It was established on 16 June 1974, with the aim of abolishing torture and the death sentence throughout the world. It brings together Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants: today ACAT can boast of a total of […]

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Ireland: the programme for the six months’ EU Presidency” “

A ceremony in Dublin Castle; a bilateral meeting with the Commission in Brussels; and the forthcoming exposition of the programme before the Parliament in Strasbourg: these are the first three official stages of Ireland’s six months’ Presidency of the European Council. On 1st January 2004 the Republic of Ireland assumed the reins of the Union […]

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Terrorism: maximum alert in Brussels and Strasbourg ” “

The institutions in Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg and Frankfurt are reinforcing their security systems. After the letter-bombs delivered in recent days to the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi, to the President of the European Central Bank Jean Claude Trichet, to the headquarters of Europol and Eurojust in The Hague, and to MEPs Hans Gert […]

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European and sport: the results of a survey” “

Sport is good for our health. It is relaxing. It improves social relations. But European citizens prefer TV. That’s one of the more striking findings that emerge from a survey recently conducted by Eurobarometer in preparation for the European Year of education through sport in 2004. The activities that Europeans declare they practice in their […]

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eu" "

Pensions at risk” “” “

As the enlargement of the European Union proceeds, it seems clear that the future member states will have to tackle the serious problems of funding their pensions systems, not very different from those that have emerged in the current member states. The cause of the problem is the same: the ageing of the population. In […]

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Dailies and periodicals” “” “

“The whole of France is in mourning”, is the front-page headline dedicated by La Croix (5/1) to the air disaster of Sharm-el-Sheikh, in which 148 people lost their lives, 133 of them of French nationality. According to Bruno Frappat, who signs the editorial, the tragedy of the Boeing 737, “apart from its causes, technical, human […]

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l'opinione" "

Il punto di partenza” “

Un’Europa cristiana? Generalmente percorrendo la Storia dell’Occidente è facile sentir ripetere l’adagio ‘dell’Occidente Cristiano’ o di ‘un’Europa cristiana’. Forse sarebbe più corretto parlare delle radici cristiane delle culture Europee. Un’Europa all’origine di due guerre mondiali, e dilaniata da esse, è lontana da qualsiasi mentalità cristiana; un’Europa la cui popolazione è assorbita in gran parte dal […]

di Abate Notker Wolf osb" "Primate dell'ordine di San Benedetto" "" "

Ue: prossimi appuntamenti” “” “

1° gennaio 2004: la presidenza di turno del Consiglio europeo viene assunta dall’Irlanda. marzo 2004: l’Irlanda è chiamata a relazionare al Consiglio europeo sulla situazione creatasi dopo la mancata approvazione del Trattato costituzionale Ue, inizialmente prevista al summit di Bruxelles di dicembre 2003. 1° maggio 2004: ingresso dei 10 nuovi membri dell’Unione, Cipro, Estonia, Lettonia, […]

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