Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Catholic News & Current Events-11/14/2006


Bishops: U.S. must help end Iraqi Violence

The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged national policymakers Monday to leave behind the campaign season's "shrill and shallow debate" over Iraq and help end sectarian violence, so that citizens of the war-torn nation can find peace.

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Politics Source of Conflict Between East and West, Not Religion

Though the Pope is visiting Turkey at the invitation of the president, Erdogan added: “The status of the Pope is twofold. One is political, and the other religious. With regard to his political identity, our president will meet him, while our head of religious affairs will host him as a religious leader. As for me, I will attend the NATO summit in Riga. This is not a reactionary attitude. I cannot cancel the NATO summit simply because the Pope is coming. The world continues to turn and we have to perform our duties.”

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Vatican Encourages N. Korea Denuclearization

The Vatican is encouraging negotiations to obtain the "denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula, Pope Benedict XVI said Monday.

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Vatican Official Blasts Human Trafficking

Human trafficking, including women forced to become prostitutes or minors forced to do child labor, is worse now than the trade in African slaves of past centuries, a top Vatican official said Tuesday.

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Vatican Official: Immigrants Must Follow Local Laws, Including Bans On Veils

Immigrants must follow local laws, including bans on veils covering the face, a Vatican cardinal said Tuesday, referring to debates in Europe about Muslim women and integration.

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Vatican Official Criticizes U.S. Border Fence Plan

A top Vatican official called the Bush administration's plans for hundreds of miles of new security fences on the United States-Mexico border "inhuman."

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Anglican, Catholic Bishops Meet In England

Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in England and Wales have begun their first joint meeting.The 2-day conference includes discussion of some of the issues dividing the two churches, including the ordination of women, ordination of gays and the Anglican rejection of clerical celibacy, The Times of London reported.

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Catholic News & Current Events-11/13/2006


Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican officials will hold a meeting to discuss requests for lifting the celibacy requirement made by priests seeking to marry or who have already married, the Vatican said Monday.

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Appalled by a report that 800 million people in the world today are undernourished and that a great many people die from hunger every year, Pope Benedict XVI has called for a radical change – a "conversion" – in "the model of global development."

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Pope Benedict XVI received a delegation from the Marmara Foundation last week, when the group was in Rome to attend meetings organized by the Turkish and Italian foreign ministries to mark the 150th anniversary of Turkish-Italian relations.

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At a national meeting starting today in Baltimore, the bishops are expected to make changes that adjust to their new circumstances. They plan to channel resources away from broad social pronouncements and focus more on defining Catholicism for an often-uninvolved flock.

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The head of Poland’s Church has apologised to a leading Catholic priest after publicly comparing him to a communist police spy for investigating former clergy agents.

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