France" "

Reinforcing the sacramental "yes"” “

Considering the increasing fragility of marital relationships, French bishops (Assembly of Lourdes 2002) express firm hope that “church marriages should not be considered consumer goods and an automatic right”. They are actually requesting “at least one year of preparation, because all too often, the bride and groom have no religious culture at all and ignore […]

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gipsies" "

A Statute for the caravan” “

“Granting gipsies a recognized personal Statute, eliminating the cases of statelessness and issuing them with identity papers that are non derogatory but identical to those of other citizens”: that’s one of the requests contained in the final document of the 5th World Congress of the pastoral care of gipsies on “Church and gipsies, towards ‘a […]

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Sunday" "

A day of celebration again” “

The question of how to understand and revive Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” has been repeatedly posed by the European Episcopal Conferences over the last twenty years. At the same time, the debate on the coincidence of this day with the weekly rest-day seems to be periodically re-ignited in the continent (for EU legislation and […]

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WYD 2005" "

Questions and answers” “

The process of preparation of the 20th World Youth Day (WYD), due to be held in Cologne from 11 to 21 August 2005, has also begun on-line. The official website of WYD, www.wyd2005.org , has been inaugurated in recent days. It is available in 5 languages (German, English, French, Italian and Spanish). “The site – […]

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ecumenism" "

The "Paul VI" Prize awarded to Paul Ricoeur” “

“The research of Paul Ricoeur shows how fruitful is the relation between philosophy and theology, between faith and culture”. So said John Paul II, on honouring the ninety-year-old philosopher of Reformed faith with the international “Paul VI” Prize on 5 July. The award is given every five years to a personality or institution that has […]

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Cooperation between KEK and CCME reinforced” “

The Conference of the European Churches (KEK), which recently ended its 22nd assembly in Trondheim, will reinforce its cooperation with the Commission of the Churches for Migrants in Europe (CCME) with a view to mobilizing the European Churches against racism and xenophobia and defending the rights of migrants and refugees. These are “fields in which […]

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"Pilgrimage of faith on earth" ” “

In Rome the appointment is on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, in the church of Santa Maria in Campitelli, at 19.30; in Paris, each Monday in the church of St. Germain des Prés, from 18.00 to 18.45, and each Saturday from 13.00 to 13.45; in London, in the church of St. James’ […]

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Eu in brief" "

Plenary session of the European Parliament” “

The European Parliament (EP) met in plenary session in Brussels from 30 June to 3 July. In the course of the session Greek premier Kostas Simitis summed up the six months’ Greek Presidency of the EU. Important milestones in the process of European integration were passed: the signing of the Treaties of membership with 10 […]

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European Conference on "e-government"” “

As part of the programme of events being held under the auspices of the Italian Presidency of the EU, a European Conference on e-government was held at Cernobbio (Como) on 7-8 July. In pursuit of the objective formulated by the Lisbon Strategy of assuring Europe of lasting socio-economic development able to turn the Union into […]

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Plenary session of the Committee of the Regions ” “

At the last plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (Brussels, 2-3 July) discussion focused on the politics of cohesion. For the first time the 222 members of the CR were accompanied by 95 observers from the countries of enlargement. EU Commissioner Michel Barnier confirmed the need to maintain the regional policy of the […]

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