World Watch

The Distinctive Role of the Priesthood, and...

A bishop's plea to his kidnappers; a radio priest's supporters

In an important new 37-page document released in November, the Vatican has distinguished between the respective duties of priests and lay people, especially in parish life. The document, entitled Instruction on certain questions concerning the collaboration of the lay faithful in the ministry of priests, is intended to curb "abuses and transgressions" which the Holy See observed have been growing rapidly in some Western countries, in which lay people are performing liturgical tasks that should be reserved for the clergy.

The document was signed by the heads of eight different Roman dicasteries: the Congregations for the Clergy, the Laity, the Doctrine of the Faith, the Sacraments, Bishops, Evangelization, and Consecrated Life, along with the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. The statement is the product of a symposium on the same topic, held in Rome in April 1994. At that time, a preliminary draft was prepared, and sent to bishops in the countries most directly concerned, for their comments. After a series of discussions and clarifications, a Vatican statement said, a "clear convergence" emerged to support the document published today.

The new statement responds to dangers that the distinctive character of the ordained ministry may become misunderstood as lay people assume roles for which they are not properly qualified. It is crucial, the document argues, "to carefully preserve both the nature and mission of the sacred ministry and the vocation and secular character of the lay faithful. Collaboration does not mean substitution."

The statement points out that in many dioceses, lay people have been able to collaborate with their pastors in very productive ways, without provoking any pastoral problems. However, it admits that in other areas, the entry of the laity into new roles has caused "grave consequences" for the understanding of ecclesial communion.

The Instruction sets out the theological principles that define the distinctive characteristics of the ordained ministry, and thereby set the limits for collaboration in that ministry. The central principle is that the priesthood involves a "sacred power" handed down from the apostles, which cannot be passed on except through ordination.

The special character of the priesthood is not negotiable, nor is it subject to change, the Vatican affirms. In a clear and direct contradiction of arguments for a greater "shared ministry" in which the lay faithful exercise priestly roles, the Instruction insists: "The ministerial priesthood is absolutely irreplaceable." Where non-ordained people are now performing ministerial duties, the Instruction says, Church authorities have an obligation to intervene immediately, to bring those abuses to a halt.

Among the abuses cited in the document are the designation of lay people as "pastors" or "chaplains" for Catholic congregations, and the use of lay people to deliver homilies. (Lay people may serve as chaplains for institutions such as hospitals, but their function must not include the routine ministry of the sacraments.) These roles are reserved for priests, the Instruction points out. Lay people are also prohibited from serving on presbyteral councils.

While it is possible for lay people to lead Sunday prayer sessions in the absence of a priest, the Vatican indicates that such arrangements must be done with an explicit mandate from the bishop, and should always be viewed as "temporary arrangements" to be discontinued as soon as a priest becomes available. In any liturgical ceremonies, lay people cannot perform the roles reserved for priests; they may distribute the Eucharist, but may not recite the Eucharistic Prayers.

The Instruction makes it clear that lay people should serve as Eucharistic ministers only under "extraordinary" circumstances, and condemns "the habitual use of extraordinary ministers in the course of Masses." Lay people who serve in this role should not administer the Eucharist to themselves, the document added.

Although the Vatican Instruction contains no new teachings, Bishop Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained that a definitive document was necessary because "deviations in the Western world" had led to the rise of an inadequate understanding of the ordained ministry.

In a front-page feature story in November, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano argued that the Catholic Church cannot accept a "conscience clause" whereby divorced and remarried Catholics would be allowed to approach the sacraments if they themselves decided that they were justified in doing so.

The status of Catholics who are divorced and remarried has been a frequent topic of debate in recent months, with some bishops suggesting that if the individuals believe that they are living in accordance with God's will, they should be allowed to receive the sacraments. The Vatican has repeatedly expressed disapproval for this "conscience clause" approach.

In the November article, L'Osservatore Romano recognized the fundamental point behind the pleas for a "conscience clause"--the belief that in some cases the application of a law may seem to cause disproportionate suffering. But it emphasized that canon law does not make provisions for exceptions.

Furthermore, the article continues, the use of such a "conscience clause"-- in which a moral principle would be set aside because of difficulties of applying that law in a particular case--is "foreign to the great tradition of Catholic moral theology." In fact, the practical consequence of allowed divoreced and remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments would inevitably be to undermine the immutable Church teaching that marriages cannot be dissolved. Thus, L'Osservatore concluded, the "conscience clause" is an approach "which the Church cannot accept."

At a Vatican ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli--who was Secretary of State under that pontiff--revealed that Pope Paul VI had serious misgivings about the policy of "ostpolitik," or cooperation with the Soviet bloc.

Cardinal Casaroli told his audience that Pope Paul VI has once asked--as if in an examination of conscience--whether the Holy See was failing to enact the Gospel message in dealing with the Communist world. The former Secretary of State said that by temperament, Paul VI was more inclined to denounce Communist injustice and oppression, especially insofar as the Church herself was a victim. However, he said, the Pontiff was eventually persuaded that the Holy See could do a service to the cause of peace by quiet diplomacy, even while the Church was enduring great privations behind the Iron Curtain.

Nevertheless, continued Cardinal Casaroli, Pope Paul VI remained torn by doubts about the "ostpolitik" approach--particularly because some of his advisers consistently recommended a more aggressive challenge to Communist power. Cardinal Casaroli--who is generally regarded as one of the most influential architects of "ostpolitik"--argued that it was necessary "through a severe and dispassionate critique, to determine whether the good of the Church and of souls" was better served by changing Vatican policy, or staying the course.

The cardinal was able to convince Pope Paul to stay with his policy, in part because, he recalled, "During the 1960s and 1970s the Communist world seemed like an invincible colossus." At the same time, he claimed, he could see the signs of decay within the system, although he did not anticipate its rapid collapse.

Pope John Paul II offered his congratulations and blessings to an unusual charitable venture--the construction of a huge replica of St. Peter's Basilica, built of empty soda cans, on a plaza outside Rome.

The model used 10 million aluminum Coca-Cola cans and measured 316 feet long, 160 feet wide, and 97 feet high with a 67-foot wide dome. The project was organized by 40 supporters of blood- and organ-donor charities, but was not sponsored by any soft-drink companies. After the model was to be dismantled at the end of December, following a period in which it is open to the public. After it is destroyed, the aluminum cans will be sold for recycling, with the proceeds benefiting the charities.

"My thoughts, in a special and warm way, go to the volunteers," the Pope said in his weekly address from the balcony of the real St Peter's on December 10. "I congratulate those that have undertaken this initiative," he added. The group hopes to be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for its efforts.

A prominent Italian Catholic magazine has called for the excommunication of pedophiles, as the country reels from a series of child sex abuse scandals.

La Famiglia Christiana emblazoned the headline "Maledetti Pedofili" (Damned Pedophiles) across the cover of a December edition, using some of the strongest language ever seen in the family magazine. Don Leonardo Zega, the magazine's editor, acknowledged the deliberate use of shocking language. "The silence has to be broken," he said. Italy was stunned by the brutal murder of nine-year-old Silvestro Della Cave in a sex attack near Naples in November--a case in which a 70-year-old man later confessed to dismembering the boy after he put up a fight during the attack. Since that revelation, the media have given almost daily reports of sexual abuse against children across Italy.

In response to the shocking stories, Italian television stations agreed to a self-imposed ban on scenes of sex and violence on daytime television. The restrictions were to be applied to news programs, films, TV shows, and advertising. La Famiglia Christiana also noted that the Church herself was not exempt from cases of child sex abuse, citing cases in Belgium, Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Australia. "The Church must reflect on the fact that she must herself continually seek to purify and reform herself," the magazine quoted Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels as saying.

The Catholic Church has rejected the argument that a pro-life activist in France should be offered political asylum.

Dr. Xavier Dor, who had spent a night at the residence of the papal nuncio in Paris, left the building voluntarily to face a possible prison sentence of eight months for his involvement in blockades at abortion clinics. Convicted on December 9 by a court at Versailles, Dor had arrived at the nunciature proclaiming the right to political asylum.

Although the nunciature in Paris declined all public comment, the Holy See today issued a statement indicating that Dor did not qualify

or asylum, but rather than his case was one of "conscientious objection." Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that during his overnight stay at the nunciature, Dor had "no doubt realized that this was not a case for political asylum."

Dor had told a French radio audience that his involvement in pro-life activism was a result of "orders from the Pope." He referred to the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, 73, in which the Holy Father had argued that abortion and euthanasia are crimes which no human law can render legitimate. The Pope had called upon all Christians to resist such laws, and reiterated the traditional Catholic teaching that citizens are under no moral obligation to obey intrinsically unjust laws.

The German Catholic philosopher Joseph Pieper died on December 6, at the age of 93. He was the author of more than 50 books, which drew international recognition and were translated into 15 languages.

Born in Westphalia, Pieper studied at Berlin and Münster, and taught philosophy at the University of Münster for 50 years. He was especially noted for his writing on the virtues. Schooled in the Classics and in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, he was an acquaintance of such noted Christian writers as Romano Guardini, C.S. Lewis, and T.S. Eliot--who wrote an introduction for one of Pieper's most memorable works, Leisure: the Basis of Culture.

Some Catholics in the diocese of Chur reacted with satisfaction, others with dismay, to the Vatican's decision to remove a controversial bishop and put him in charge of a new diocese carved out of the old.

The Vatican announced that the Archdiocese of Vaduz, Liechtenstein would be created out of lands formerly a part of the Chur diocese and that Bishop Wolfgang Haas, a native of Liechtenstein, would be the first archbishop of the new see. No successor to the bishopric of Chur was announced. The Chur diocese previously covered Zurich, eastern Switzerland, and the neighboring principality of Liechtenstein.

Perhaps little Lichtenstein, with its population of barely over 30,000, warranted a diocese of its own. But the establishment of an archdiocese, comprising only part of what had been another diocese, was an indication that something special was afoot. And anyone who had followed recent developments within the Diocese of Chur recognized the Vatican's move as an attempt to resolve an increasingly difficult problem: an outright rebellion in Chur, in which many priests and lay people had simply rejected the bishop's authority.

It is true that at least a small part of the hostility toward Bishop Haas was prompted by feelings of nationalism; the bishop, himself a native of Vaduz in Lichtenstein, had been regarded in part as a foreigner in a Swiss diocese ever since he assumed episcopal authority in 1990. That problem is solved by the creation of the new diocese; the new bishop of Chur will undoubtedly be a native of Switzerland.

But the far greater source of hostility toward Bishop Haas was the rebellion against traditional Catholic teachings, which the bishop refused to compromise. The odd legal system in Switzerland--in which the taxes collected to support religion are funneled throught the government to the parish rather than diocese--gave pastors the upper hand in their power struggle against the bishop. Bishop Haas was effectively isolated, unable to exercise discipline over this diocese. Many critics had protested his leadership to the Vatican, and the Swiss Foreign Ministry had taken the highly unusual step of making a formal diplomatic request for a change.

Liechtenstein Prime Minister Mario Frick said the Vatican'sdecision to create the new archdiocese came as a surprise. The Swiss Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said it "notes with relief and satisfaction that Rome has cleared the way for a change at the top of the diocese of Chur."

A Norwegian doctor who demanded that he be prosecuted in a case of euthanasia was convicted of premeditated murder early in December, in what may be a key test of laws banning the practice.

Christian Sandsdalen, a retired physician, said he gave a lethal dose of morphine to multiple sclerosis patient Bodil Bjerkmann, 45, at her request in June 1996. He then wrote to the local prosecutor, confessing to the crime and demanding the he be charged in order to test the laws. Now he has announced that he will appeal the conviction.

In its ruling, the court said it had been proven that Sandsdalen gave the lethal dose in what he considered to be an act of mercy. However, while the court found that the doctor's patient was in acute pain, it also found that the Sandsdalen had not made sufficient efforts to find another solution for that suffering, such as stronger pain-killing drugs. In view of the mitigating circumstances--and the likely appeal--the court announced that it would postpone sentencing indefinitely.

Ireland's newly-elected Catholic President defied Church law when she received communion at an Anglican Church, but her action drew no comment from either the Irish bishops' conference or the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Mary McAleese received communion at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, saying it was part of her campaign to promote better relations between Catholics and Protestants. Many Catholics criticized her for flouting the demands of her faith. However, when asked to comment, spokesmen for the Irish bishops' conference and the Archdiocese of Dublin refused to respond.

McAleese has won the admiration of Catholic leaders because she speaks openly about her faith and opposes abortion, contraception, and divorce. But she also opposes other Church teachings, promoting homosexual rights and the ordination of women.

Almost $1.5 million--was paid out last year in compensation to Catholics who complained of religious discrimination at workplaces in Northern Ireland, according to a report issued by a government employment commission.

Northern Ireland, which is governed as part of the United Kingdom, has a Protestant majority, and many Protestant businesses there have traditionally refused to employ Catholics. The Fair Employment Commission, which issued its annual report last week, called upon the British government to sharpen policies for getting more Catholics into the work force. Commission Chairman Bob Cooper said that while religious discrimination is decreasing in Northern Ireland, it remains a significant problem.

Catholics now represent 38 percent of the work force in Northern Ireland. Last year's payout of £971,926 to people who complained about religious discrimination was the highest of any single year to date. The British government's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, said that while much had been achieved, clearly more remained to be done to bring about a situation of full employment equality.

On Sunday, November 30--the feast of St. Andrew, patron of the patriarchate of Constantinople--Pope John Paul II sent a message of greetings to Patriarch Bartholomew I, emphasizing his desire for progress toward ecumenical unity and arguing that all Christians should work together toward the evangelization of the entire world.

The Pope's message was delivered to the Orthodox leader by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, who led a delegation from the Holy See to participate in the annual ceremonies marking the feast day in Constantinople. Because a national census was taking place, the main ceremonies took place on Saturday evening, November 29, at the patriarchal church of St. George.

Noting that St. Andrew was the first apostle to follow Jesus, the Holy Father said the occasion gives the Church in Rome "the occasion to show the profound ties which unite us with the Church of Constantinople." Those ties, he said, reflect the ties between the original apostles, Peter and Andrew. "The communion of two brothers in service to the Word of God remains an example and a model for the churches under their patronage," he concluded. The example of those apostles also calls the churches to a renewed effort to spread the Gospel, the Pope added.

The Pope's message, and the presence of a Vatican delegation at the Orthodox ceremonies, appeared to be an effort to resume progress toward ecumenical unity, after some setbacks in the past year. On June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Patriarch Bartholomew had chosen not to send a delegation to participate in Vatican ceremonies, breaking a tradition of recent years. At the time it was not clear whether he made that decision because of his own differences with the Vatican, or because he wished to avoid giving offense to the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II, who at the time was complaining bitterly about Catholic "proselytism" in Russia. Although Bartholomew, as the Ecumenical Patriarch, is recognized as "first among equals" of all Orthodox prelates, the Russian Orthodox Church is by far the largest of the Eastern churches.

At the Vatican on Sunday, Pope John Paul marked the feast of St. Andrew--which coincided with the first Sunday of Advent--by observing that the new liturgical year of 1998 is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, and asking the Spirit's intercession "to overcome the divisions of the second millennium."

In a bid to call public attention to what he called discriminatory treatment of Croatians, Cardinal Franjo Kuharic of Zagreb issued a statement in November pointing out that a disproportionate number of the men standing trial before an international war-crimes tribunal are Croatians, while most of those accused of such crimes are Serbians. The Croatian prelate argued that while officials in his own country have cooperated with the war-crimes prosecutors, Serbian law-enforcement officials have refused to divulge information as to the whereabouts of many of the suspects who are believed to be living under Serbian rule. The result, Cardinal Kuharic reported, is that while Croatians account for only a small fraction of the total number of accused war criminals, they represent the majority of those whose cases have actually been brought to trial. He called for international pressure on Serbia to bring the wanted suspects to justice, and thus promote equality of treatment.

The right to hang crucifixes on the walls of public buildings is an evocative issue in Poland.Banned when the Communists came to power, during the brief "window" of liberalization in 1980-81, crucifixes reappeared on the walls of classrooms as well as in the offices of the new "Solidarity" labor union. When Martial Law was imposed in December 1981, Solidarity was banned, and the schools were ordered to remove the crucifixes. All over Poland, however, children fought to the right to retain their crucifixes, replacing them when they were taken down by officials, or else keeping crucifixes on their desks.

With the end of Communism, it seemed that the "war of the crucifixes" had been won. Recently, however, it has broken out again within the Sejm (lower house of parliament). The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), which for four years had been the majority party in parliament and the senior member of the left-of-center government coalition, was turned out of office by the swing to the right in last September's elections. Responding swiftly to their new role as the opposition, a group of the SLD members challenged the new Speaker, Maciej Plazynski, about the crucifix on the wall of the chamber. Plazynski replied that he could not "take a view" on whether the crucifix should be there, since it was already in place before the Sejm elected him as Speaker. Nevertheless, he said, "it is impossible to draw the conclusion that the interior decor of the chamber has to suit only the tastes of secularist members." This, however, did not satisfy the "secularists" in question: by the same argument, they riposted, "it is impossible to draw the conclusion" that it has to suit only the religious members. The argument continues--but the crucifix remains in place.

A major debate has developed in Poland over the right of the law enforcement bodies to investigate members of the clergy. The episcopate--through Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, has made it clear that priests, like all other citizens, are subject to the law, and that for a prosecutor to call a priest in for questioning cannot be deemed "persecution of the Church" But supporters of the priest in question, Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, a Redemptorist, the founder and director of the Catholic radio station Radio Maryja, hold a different view. The summons, they say, "compromised Polish justice," "harassed" Father Rydzyk, and infringed on his rights "as a Catholic and a citizen." Furthermore, more than 100 members of the Sejm (lower house of parliament) have come out in support of the priest, claiming that the prosecutor concerned is acting in a manner likely to bring Polish law into disrepute.

The dispute began with one of Father Rydzyk's regular broadcasts, in which he allegedly called those members of the Sejm who had voted for the relaxation of the anti-abortion law "criminals," and said that they "ought to have their heads shaved just as the heads of women who co-habited with the Nazis were shaved during the war." A group of legislators who had voted for the law filed a complaint, accusing Father Rydzyk of insulting the supreme state authorities (i.e., the Sejm). At the beginning of November, the local prosecutor duly called him in to "clarify" his words==the routine first stage in investigating such a complaint. Father Rydzyk failed to comply with the summons, and two weeks later he told the media that he had not received it in time. However, according to the Prosecutor's office, he had also ignored three further summonses. Finally the prosecutor instructed the police to bring him in by force.

By now, however, Father Rydzyk's supporters had mobilized. There were demonstrations in his support in several major Polish cities and petitions to the new Minister of Justice Hanna Suchocka, to order the proceedings against Father Rydzyk dropped. This she did not do--however, she did quash the order to bring him in forcibly. Eventually, at the beginning of December, Father Rydzyk made the required appearance. Following the priest's "clarification," the accusation against him was reduced from "insulting the supreme state authorities" to "insulting state functionaires and inciting a crime."

This story broke in the Polish media almost simultaneously with the acquittal (on a legal technicality) of the former Communist officials charged with responsibility for the shooting of miners demonstrating against the imposition of martial law in December 1981. This, inevitably, fueled the feelings of Father Rydzyk's supporters that there is one law in Poland for ex-Communists and another for Catholic activists. The same idea clearly underlay a statement by over 100 members of the Sejm calling on the government to "undertake firm actions to avoid in the future incidents compromising Polish justice" such as the "harassment" of Father Rydzyk.

The Polish episcopate does not question Father Rydzyk's right of free speech, but has hinted through its secretary, Bishop Pieronek, that he should exercise it in a more tactful manner. Father Rydzyk, meanwhile, remains unabashed. In a statement sent to Polonia satellite TV, he pledged that he would continue to "serve God, the Church, and Poland, with all my heart," and expressed a hope that the prosecution authorities in Poland would stop "undermining the authority of the state and law" and start dealing with "real crimes--such as the killing of unborn children."

The Romanian government has allotted $150,000 for the building, refurbishing, and operating expenses of Orthodox churches in Transylvania. The Orthodox churches there are in a bad state of repair, and the Romanian newspaper Adevarul had recently launched a fund-raising "rescue" campaign. But the government's contribution (an enormous sum in the conditions of today's Romania) seems all too likely to exacerbate ethnic tensions in Transylvania. That region, which before World War I was part of Hungary, is populated largely by ethnic Hungarians--whose traditional faiths include the Hungarian Reformed Church, Catholicism, Unitarianism, and Lutheranism, but not Orthodoxy. The government's donation to specifically Orthodox church building and restoration is all too likely to be interpreted as yet another attempt by the Romanian government to build up the Romanian cultural identity of what they, the Hungarians, view as their own ancestral homeland.

Catholic priests and nuns serving in Siberia and the Russian Far East are finding it ever more difficult to get visas, a Russian bishop said recently.

Often Church workers can renew their visas only for three months at a time, rather than (as in the past)for twelve months, Bishop Joseph Werth of Novosibirsk told Keston News Service in a November telephone interview.

"About half of my priests have had difficulties connected with their visas," the bishop reported. He said that the visa problems began about two years ago and became sharply worse at the beginning of 1997--"just as we were being told that preparations were underway for the new law on religion."

Especially burdensome, the bishop said, is the requirement that foreign priests must return all the way to their native countries--not just to any foreign country bordering the Russian Federation--to apply for new visas. For priests and nuns from Germany or the United States, that can mean four expensive, time-consuming trips every year. Priests from Poland and other former Soviet-bloc countries have received milder treatment, he said.

At present foreign priests are indispensable to the Catholic Church in Russia because of the shortage of qualified Russian-born clergy. The seminary in St. Petersburg, closed generations ago by the Bolsheviks, was allowed to reopen only in 1993. Serving in Werth's territory, which stretches from the Urals to the Pacific, are eight priests from the United States alone.

Priests west of the Urals are having fewer difficulties than those under Bishop Werth, according to the chancellor for the European part of Russia. Father Victor Bartsevich said the officials in Moscow seem to be following a policy which is the reverse of that in Siberia: they are granting only three-month visas to priests from Poland, but full-year visas to priests of other nationalities. In European Russian cities other than Moscow, he said, priests are not having visa problems.

American First Lady Hillary Clinton was in the former Soviet republic of Kazahkstan in November, advocating the rights of women during a trip to a health clinic. Although she did not directly address the topics of contraception and abortion, the clinic does furnish contraceptives and provides abortion referrals.

Clinton, on an eight-day-tour of former Soviet republics, spoke to a conference on the political rights of women in Central Asia and then visited the clinic, which claims that it can help to reduce the country's high abortions rates by providing artificial contraception to Kazahk women. Funds for the clinic are provided by the US government and private donations as well as by the local government.

An American official traveling with Clinton said the average woman in Kazahkstan will have 2.4 abortions in the course of her life, although abortion rates have fallen 15 percent since 1992, when the Soviet Union dissolved.

The Latin-rite Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem has reacted strongly to dispute recent stories that the Palestinian Authority has been engaged in discrimination against--and even persecution of--Palestinian Christians. The office of Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah reported friendly relations with Palestinian authorities, and dismissed the stories of mistreatment as propaganda efforts.

Moreover, the patriarchate argues that the Israel government itself has discriminated against Christians by cutting of Catholic (and Orthodox) radio broadcasts. Representatives of the Church have asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restore their access to radio programming.

Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, have complained consistently for several months about Israeli "peace-keeping" efforts in the West Bank, which have resulted in severe economic hardships for the people living in that region. However, in late November the Israeli government released a report claiming that Yasser Arafat's regime was engaged in "persecution" of Christians; the report argued that this persecution was the main reason for the steady flow of Christian emigrants away from the Holy Land.

Actually, the Jerusalem patriarchate noted, "Conditions for Christians bear no resemblance to the conditions portrayed by the Israeli report." Dr. Wadie Nassar, a Church spokesman, reports that he has investigated every incident mentioned in the Israeli report, and found no basis for claims of anti-Christian bias in any case. The emigration of Christians from Palestine, the Church spokesmen continued, has been occurring for more than a century, and the latest surge of emigration can be attributed to the lack of economic opportunity in the Palestinian lands-- a problem which is being exacerbated by Israeli restraints on trade.

The Jerusalem patriarchate turned the tables on the Israel government early in December, complaining that the state radio network had silenced the voice of Christians. Msgr. Giacintio-Boulos Marcuzzo, a spokesman for the patriarchate, said that the broadcasts put out by the Catholic Church had been discontinued by the Voice of Israel's Arabic service. "They have cut off an entire community," said Msgr. Marcuzzo. "This is evident religious discrimination and we want the situation to be changed." Although the Voice of Israel had explained the decision to cancel the Catholic programming as the result of budget cuts, Msgr. Marcuzzo pointed out that other broadcasts had been retained--including "the Muslims who have daily, weekly, and seasonal programs. We are happy for the Muslims, but why this discrimination against the Christians?"

In another effort to shore up relations with Palestinian authorities, Patriarch Sabbah reassured Palestinian leaders that a recent Vatican-Israel agreement on Catholic interests in Israel did not mean that the Church had changed its stance on the status of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority claims the eastern sector of the city, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as its future capital.

Pope John Paul II sent a telegram of condolence to the survivors of a November terrorist attack in Luxor, Egypt and to the families of those who had been killed. Promising his prayers for the victims and their families, the Holy Father called on everyone concerned to have "the courage to engage resolutely in the way of peace and dialogue, and to refuse all violence, which can only disfigure humanity."

Confiding those who had died to the mercy of God, the Pope also invoked God's help on behalf of those who were wounded, the families of the victims, "and on all those who have been affected by this tragedy."

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has written to Pope John Paul II, thanking the Holy Father for his public statements of opposition to the international embargo on Iraq. Hussein thanked the Pontiff for "his constant interest in the sufferings of the Iraqi people."

The Pope and his diplomatic representatives have repeatedly pointed out that economic sanctions hurt the most vulnerable people of the country, without necessarily causing any stimulus to political changes on the part of the elite. At his public audience on November 16, during the height of the recent crisis between Iraq and the United States, the Holy Father also emphasized the need for a peaceful solution to the conflict. In 1991, the Pope had also appealed for peace during the days of the Persian Gulf War--and at that time, too, received a personal thanks from Saddam Hussein.

The Vatican opposition to economic embargoes in this case in not unique. Pope John Paul has also spoken out against restraints on trade with Cuba, again explaining that the sanctions hurt the innocent poor, without effectively causing changes in the behavior of government leaders.

Congo police detained a Protestant pastor after he told his congregation not to create a cult around President Laurent Kabila.

Rev. Theodore Ngoy, who was also an outspoken opponent of Kabila's predecessor, the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, is a popular preacher in Kinshasa; his Christian Church of Congo boasts thousands of faithful members. Ngoy's comments were made during a service with several government members in attendance. Kabila himself had been invited, but did not attend.

The pastor said that the country's former government had collapsed because the population treated Mobutu as if he were a god; he cautioned that the populace should not make the same mistake with Kabila. "Ngoy was picked up by the police as he was going off stage, right after his preaching," one follower said. Kabila toppled Mobutu in May with the help of Rwanda after a seven-month military campaign.

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of Dili, a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, said peace in his land remains elusive one year after the award was given.

Speaking on the 50th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Bishop Belo said: "There are still violations and torture. It means that there are no changes at all, either in human rights or in peace and justice."

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed the following year, in a move not recognized by the United Nations. Activists have contended for two decades that Indonesian troops are committing numerous human rights violations, including torture and murder.

Bishop Su Zhimin of Baoding is reportedly still under arrest, despite the public statements to the contrary issued by the Beijing government during the recent trip of Premier Jiang Zemin to the United States.

The news agency Fides, an affiliate of the Vatican's Society for the Propagation of the Faith, charged that Bishop Su Zhimin was being held under detention along with his auxiliary, Bishop An Shuxin, and a young priest, Father Wang Quanjun. All are affiliated with the underground Catholic Church, which is not recognized by the Communist regime.

On October 28, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced that a Chinese bishop had been released from custody. According to sources in Hong Kong, that bishop was Su Zhimin, who had been arrested earlier in October But on November 7, the news arrived from Baoding that the bishop was still being held under police "control," although he was allegedly not behind bars. One source in China told Fides that in fact the bishop had been returned to his prison cell that very day of Albright's announcement.

"The case of Su Zhimin appears to be a typical case of 'disinformation.'" Fides charged. The agency pointed out that Human Rights Watch has charged the Chinese government with periodically arresting Christian leaders, then releasing and re-arresting them, as a tactic of intimidation against the Church.

Representatives of American relief organizations, returning home in December after a three-month trip to assess the ongoing famine in North Korea, said international aid is making a difference for the starving people of the Marxist country.

Michael Frank of Catholic Relief Services said that the five-man team saw no evidence that food shipments were being diverted to the military, as some critics had feared they would be. Again contradicting many reports, he also said that his group noticed no evidence of rising discontent against the repressive regime. Along with Catholic Relief Services, the consortium of non-government agencies involved in the fact-finding trip included Mercy Corps International, Amigos Internacionales, CARE, and World Vision. The group monitored distribution of 60,500 tons of grain from the US Agency for International Development.

North Korea was struck by a devastating famine after several years of flooding, followed by drought, decimated crops. The country's agricultural system is also hamstrung by ineffective central planning. While the harvest had improved this year, Frank said the country would still need food aid for at least the coming year.

Hundreds of Catholics in southern Vietnam renewed their government protests early in December, but an official silence on the part of the government has made it difficult for outsiders to understand the reasons for the new demonstrations.

News agencies reported that residents of Dong Nai province, a predominantly Catholic region, blocked a portion of Vietnam's main north-south highway twice during the early days of the month. A few weeks earlier, thousands of people had clashed with riot police, throwing rocks and burning police vehicles. Authorities declined to report whether or not there had been any casualties in the disturbances, and official public statements indicated that the protests involved disputes over possession of certain tracts of land. However, more perceptive reporters have noted that the government has consistently opposed the efforts of the Catholic Church to serve the faithful of the region, and recently there had been new disagreements over the government's decision to sell properties claimed by the Church. In a tacit admission that religious issues were involved, government officials have twice asked Catholic bishops to intervene to stop the protests.

Australia's leading assisted-suicide activist has claimed that doctors

around the world are on the verge of inventing a recipe for a make-it-yourself suicide pill.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, who assisted at Australia's first legal suicide while the Northern Territory's short-lived assisted-suicide law was in effect last year, said the goal of the effort is to make anti-euthanasia laws impossible to enforce. "It's empowering the patient, it's unpoliceable because it will be so easy to make from readily available substances," Nitschke said. He added that doctors from the

US, Canada, Britain, and the Netherlands were close to perfecting the recipe.

Unlike many poisons which are already available, Nitschke said, the new pill would lead to a peaceful, painless death. "Anyone can go down to the supermarket now and buy something that will kill them, but they will die the worst imaginable death. And who wants to do that?" Nitschke said. He said his involvement in the effort began after Australia's federal parliament overturned the Northern Territory's legislation legalizing assisted suicide.

Australia's aborigines called on Pope John Paul to intercede on their behalf with the federal government, which is formulating a landmark land-reform law.

Representatives of the Swan Valley Nyungah Community said the appeal to the Holy Father was a sign of their desperation over the issue, and they had sent their request directly to the Vatican because legislators have tried to silence local Church leaders who oppose the government's plan. The 10-point "Wik" law--named for a court decision last year which had indicated that ancient aboriginal claims could have an effect on current land leases--would force thousands of aborigines off their traditional lands, according to Robert Bropho, an elder of the Nyungah Community.

Bropho added that while studies had been conducted on the likely effect of new law for the mining and agricultural industries, none had been conducted on the potential impact on indigenous people.

New Zealand's Cardinal Thomas Williams took a leading role in a campaign to oppose the expansion of casinos in the country when he joined the Casino Opposition Action Network. The group is lobbying against plans to increase the number of New Zealand casinos from two to six.

With Anglican Bishop Thomas Brown, Cardinal Williams tried to persuade a parliamentary committee to hear testimony from an American anti-gambling crusader, Rev. Tom Grey, as it was considering new legislation to control the administration of the new casinos. But the three clergymen were denied entry to the committee room.

Cardinal Williams also asked all clergy in the Archdiocese of Wellington to alert their people to the threat posed by the proliferation of casinos, encouraging citizens to ask their representatives in parliament to support a moratorium on the establishment of casinos. The move to expand legalized gambling has been driven largely by the promise of new tax revenues from the casinos. "It is becoming increasingly obvious that it is in the government's interest--but not in the interest of the people it governs--to actively promote gambling," the cardinal said. Although extensive research had yet to be carried out, he added, "the correlation of casino gambling with addiction, family violence, suicide, and bankruptcy is fast emerging".

Bishop Jose Quintero Diaz of Tibu, who was kidnapped and held for two weeks by the Colombian Marxist rebel group National Liberation Army (ELN) before being handed over to representatives of the Red Cross, made an appeal to his former kidnappers, calling on them to avoid a wave of violence.

The ELN, Colombia's second largest guerrilla army, specializes in kidnappings and economic sabotage. Founded by radical priests advocating liberation theology in 1966, it has long criticized the Church's role in Colombia's protracted internal conflict.

"I don't fear for my life, but for the life of those that could be affected by the irrational wave of violence they (the ELN) have promised," said Bishop Quintero during an impromptu press conference held at Tibu, where more than 4,000 people gathered to celebrate his release. The bishops, who was released along with two local politicians after the Colombian government agreed to stop all military operations in the area, said that during his captivity he was "fed well and given fair time for rest," but he was forced to walk long distances and was frequently menaced with a "people's trial"--implying that he might be executed. "Nevertheless, what I missed most was celebrating the Eucharist," he said.

"As a Christian I hold no hard feelings against them. I forgive them," the bishop said. "But I ask them, in the name of God, to renounce their plans to unleash a wave of killing in the area." Bishop Quintero said Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista, the second-in-command of the rebel

movement after the Spanish former priest Manuel Perez--the founder of ELN--repeatedly told him a violent campaign would be unleashed before Christmas under the name of "Black December."

Law-enforcement officials and international art dealers say that Ecuador has become a primary target for thieves who specialize in religious art. The robbers' efforts have produced a wave of thefts, often involving acts of desecration, in the most important Catholic churches in the country.

The most recent theft took place in November, when two chalices and baroque silver candlesticks were stolen from the San Francisco Church in the Andean City of Cuenca. The two 300 year-old chalices are registered among the masterpieces of silver and gold craftsman Jesus Paniagua, a well known Baroque artist.

This year more than 20 masterpieces, especially paintings, have been stolen from Catholic churches in Ecuador. The cities of Quito and Cuenca have been the most frequent targets, since both are considered the center of the "Quiteno school of art," a highly valuable blend of native art and Spanish Baroque influences.

With backing from Pope John Paul II, Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino has asked the country's Communist government to reinstate Christmas as an official holiday. Pope John Paul made the same request to President Fidel Castro at a meeting in Rome last year.

"The Holy Father, through his secretary of state, asked Fidel Castro during his visit to the Vatican that the 25th of December be a holiday," Cardinal Ortega told reporters at a December news conference. "There has been no concrete indication up until now if there is going to be a holiday or not." The officially atheist Communist government abolished Christmas as a holiday in 1969, saying that the celebration interfered with the sugar harvest. Since some restrictions on religious worship were lifted in 1991, more families are celebrating Christmas--although it remains a normal work day on the government's calendar.

Alejandro Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Cuban foreign ministry, said the holiday request was one of list of issues being considered as Cuba prepares for the Pope's landmark visit .

Cardinal Ortega called on Cubans to celebrate Christmas this year in a special way to prepare for the January visit of Pope John Paul. The cardinal made a point to compliment the government for allowing a series of open-air Masses that concluded on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

US health officials reported that the ratio of abortions to pregnancies in 1995 dropped to its lowest level since 1976.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that according to the latest available figures there were 311 surgical abortions per 1,000 live births. That number translates to 1,210,883 aborted children in 1995, compared with 1,429,577 in 1990--the peak year for abortions in the United States. Among women aged 15 to 44, there were 20 abortions per 1,000 women overall, also the lowest rate since 1975.

Lisa Koonin, chief of surveillance in the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health, said possible reasons for the decline include "potential reduced access to abortion services, attitudinal changes concerning the decision to have an abortion or carry a pregnancy to term, and a reduction in the number of unintended pregnancies that was noted in the mid-1990s."

Of women obtaining abortions in 1995, 60 percent were white and 35 percent were black; 15 percent were Hispanic. Almost 80 percent were single, and about 20 percent were married. One-fifth of the women were aged 19 or under, while one-third were aged 20 to 24, the CDC said. The agency said 54 percent of abortions were performed during the first eight weeks of pregnancy and 88 percent were performed during the first 12 weeks.

Undaunted when her airplane was hit by lightning during a flight to Rome, Corrinne "Lindy" Boggs took over responsibility as the US Ambassador to the Holy See. Boggs laughed that the lightning strike might be "some sign that tells me that this is going to be a great and glorious adventure."

The new US envoy, who is 81 years old, assumed her new post after retiring from the US House of Representatives, where she had served for 18 years. She will be the oldest ambassador serving at the Vatican, as well as the first woman to serve as the American representative to the Holy See.

Boggs told reporters that her goals at the Vatican would be "mainly the promotion of peace in troubled regions, the growth of freedom and democracy, the protection and promotion of human rights, the promotion of tolerance and freedom of religion, and the application of science to benefit mankind."

Dr Herbert Ratner died on December 6 in Cleveland, Ohio, after suffering a stroke. He was 90 years old.

A graduate of the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan Medical School, who had held academic appointments at Loyola Medical School in Chicago an the New York Medical School, Dr. Ratner was a past president of the Catholic Medical Association. He served several terms as a member of the Pontifical Commission on Family Life,.and was a consultant to the US bishops' Family Life Bureau during the 1950s and 1960s. Ratner was the editor of Child and Family, a quarterly journal dedicated to promotion of the Catholic vision of family life.