Human rights: little progress” “

Following the presentation of the annual report for 2002 of the European Parliament, a public audition dedicated to the situation of basic human rights and liberties in the EU for the year 2002 was held in Brussels on 24 April. Discussion focused on the progress made by the member states in terms of respect for […]

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ecumenism" "

Festival of Orthodox youth” “

A festival of Orthodox youth will be held at the abbey of Nôtre-Dame de l’Ouye, near Dourdan, in the French region of Essonne, from 1st to 4th May. The brainchild of a group of youngsters in various dioceses, the festival was approved by the Orthodox bishops of France. Its participants, including those aged from 18 […]

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enlargement" "

Entering Europe in order to grow” “

According to Entraide d’Eglises, a Belgian non-profit association that promotes aid projects for education, information, culture and social life in various countries of Eastern Europe (including Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Romania and Poland), “the countries that recently emerged from Communism fear finding themselves in a single bloc that would reduce their re-found […]

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European Churches" "

Italy: an appeal to return to the Holy Land” “

“We wanted to discover at first hand what the living conditions of Christians in the Holy Land are like to be able to give them the right aid”. That’s the comment of Msgr. Giuseppe Betori, general secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), at the end of the recent pilgrimage (22-25 April) of Italian bishops […]

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Austria: pensions that penalize families ” “

The secretariat of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference has criticized the country’s pensions reform. Already at the end of its spring plenary assembly, Cardinal Cristoph Schoenborn, president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, had warned of the danger of penalizing large families. The penalization of workers with children is one of the main criticisms levelled against the […]

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Germany: Pro-Life Week and medical progress” “

Scientific progress at the service of man: “possibilities and limits of medical progress”: that’s the title of this year’s “Pro-Life Week” in Germany (cf. Sir 25/2003) which is due to open in Bayreuth on 3 May, with an ecumenical celebration officiated by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, and by Manfred Kock, […]

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France: right to asylum, "alarming situation"” “

The French bishops have denounced “the alarming situation” of political asylum-seekers in France. They did so just at the time that the French Parliament was busily discussing a bill on the matter. Already on 6 February 2002 the French bishops had contested “the excessive duration” and “inadequacy” of the procedures for seeking asylum, and urged […]

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Czech Republic: letter to Vietnam” “

A letter to urge “the immediate release” of two well-known Vietnamese Buddhist exponents, Thich Huyen Quang e Thich Quang Do, has been sent by the President of the Justice and Peace Council of the Czech Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Vàclav Maly, to Tran Duc Luong, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. “These courageous leaders, – […]

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Switzerland: meeting of Catholic youth in 2004″ “

The national meeting of Catholic youth will be held in Bern on 5-6 June next year. The event is announced in a press release of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, dated 28 April, which also announces the probable presence of John Paul II at the event. In that case, a large site close to the Arena […]

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Spain, a pastoral care of immigrants” “

A “vademecum” or handbook of the Church of Madrid on the pastoral care of immigrants, signed by Cardinal Antonio M. Rouco Varela, archbishop of the city, has been published as part of a series of pastoral guides on various themes. Subdivided into twelve chapters, it comprises a “long series” of specific proposals: “not because each […]

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