THE VATICAN

Beatification for two popes
Canonization for Blessed Faustina

Pope Pius IX will soon be beatified, and Pope John Paul XXIII declared “Venerable.” These were among the noteworthy stories on December 20, as the Congregation for the Causes of Saints read a series of 18 new decrees concerning candidates for canonization and beatification.

Archbishop Jose Saraiva Martins read the official decrees in the presence of Pope John Paul II. Eight of the decrees recognized the authenticity of miracles, with two of them clearing the way for canonization: of Blessed Maria Faustina and Joseph Marie de Yermo y Parres.

Six other miracles were attributed to candidates who have already been declared “Venerable,” and will now be beatified. These include Pope Pius IX, Guillaume Joseph Chaminade (1761-1850), Emmanuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877-1940), Catherine Cittadini (1801-1857), Anne Eugénie Picco (1867-1921), and Charles Emmanuel Rodriguez Santiago (1918-1963). Six other decrees recognize martyrs, who may also now be beatified. All of these candidates were killed in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War—in many cases, by firing squads that gunned down groups of Catholics at a time. Four more decrees recognize the “heroic virtue” practiced by candidates who will now be known as “Venerable.” The first of these is Pope John XXIII, who will now be qualified for beatification as soon as a miracle is formally attributed to his intercession—an approval which is expected to come soon, since a miracle has already been investigated thoroughly.

According to Vatican sources, the beatification of Popes Pius IX and John XXIII is likely to take place on September 3, 2000, in a joint ceremony.

Pope to visit Jordan?
Plans for an expanded trip to
Holy Land

Pope John Paul II may travel to Jordan at the end of March 2000, in conjunction with his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
While a papal visit to Jordan has frequently been mentioned as a possibility, sources in the Vatican indicate that firm plans for that visit have now emerged. In fact, news agencies in Jordan itself have already announced the impending papal visit as an established fact; the Vatican itself has not made any official announcement.

Father Robert Tucci, the Jesuit priest who usually organizes the details of papal travel, arrived in Amman, Jordan, on December 13—apparently to work out the logistics for the papal visit.

Jordan’s King Hussein, who died last year, had issued an invitation for the Pope to visit his country. That invitation was renewed by Hussein’s son, King Abdallah, on a September visit to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandalfo.

The schedule for the Pope’s trip to the Holy Land already includes plans for stops at Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Nazareth. The Holy Father has indicated a desire to celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, March 25, in Nazareth—although tensions surrounding the construction of a mosque in that town have provoked some uncertainty about those plans.

During a stop in Jordan, the Pope could fulfill his ambition to make a pilgrimage to Mount Nebo—about 25 miles from Amman—where Moses died after having caught a glimpse of the Promised Land. He might also make a helicopter trip to Mount Mukawer, where St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and finally beheaded. Diplomatic sources indicate that a formal visit to the Jordanian royal palace is also contemplated.

Persecution regretted
Pope rues execution of Jan Hus

Pope John Paul II has expressed his “profound regret” over the “cruel death” of Jan Hus, a Czech dissenter who was condemned to death by the Council of Constance in 1415.

The Pope made his remarks while addressing participants in a December conference on Hus, organized by the Lateran University in conjunction with the Vatican’s central committee for the Jubilee and the Czech bishops’ conference.

“On the eve of the great Jubilee, I feel the need to express a profound regret for the cruel death of Jan Hus and the consequent wounds—the sources of conflicts and divisions—which were opened in the spirits and the hearts of the Bohemian people,” the Pope said. He paid tribute to the “moral courage” of Hus, who was burned at the stake by the German emperor after he had been declared a heretic. That execution prompted a rebellion by the people of Bohemia against their German rulers, and a split within the Church, with many followers of Hus later joining ranks with Lutheran reformers.

The Holy Father said that the current reconsideration of past events such as the condemnation of Hus should give rise to “decisive steps” to repair the unity among Christians. If Jan Hus was once a focus for division, he added, today he can become a focus for “dialogue, rapprochement, and a deeper communion.”

Causes of saints
New book summarizes progress toward canonizations

The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints has unveiled a 730-page volume summarizing all of the causes investigated since the inception of the Congregation in 1588.

The book, entitled Index ac status causarum, is written in Latin. It was introduced on December 17 by Archbishop Jose Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Congregation. The book accounts for all of the official canonizations, beatifications, and other decrees put out by the Congregation, up until November 21, 1999. It does not include the Congregation’s latest decrees, which were made public on December 20.

The volume shows that since his election, Pope John Paul II has proclaimed the canonization of 295 saints, and beatified 940. The current Pope has thus nearly matched the total of all the saints canonized since the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was founded by Pope Sixtus V; there had been 296 saints on that list before his election. Pope John Paul has also presided at more beatifications than the combined total of all the previous pontiffs since the Congregation began its work at the end of the 16th century.

The new book explains the process by which the Congregation investigates candidates for canonization, including the examination of miracles. It also lists the 1,921 causes which are now under consideration, and the stages they have reached. Another section lists the saints who were canonized or beatified before the formal inauguration of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and whose status has subsequently been confirmed officially.

This is the 15th edition of the work, which has been published by the Congregation, on an irregular schedule, since 1890.

Papal view of world affairs
Annual meeting with diplomatic corps

Pope John Paul II met on January 10, with the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, and voiced the hope that, at the dawn of a new millennium, “men can finally begin to learn the lessons of history.” Among the “errors of the past” which should be avoided, he mentioned religious persecution, the “frequent and often precipitous” resort to armed warfare, and the concentration on economic concerns to the detriment of social and religious principles.

“To everyone, in the name of God, I ask that we spare humanity new wars, respect human life and the family, close the gap between the rich and the poor, and understand that we are all responsible for one another,” the Pope told the assembled ambassadors. “It is God who asks this of us, and he would not ask for anything which is beyond our abilities. He will give us the power to do what he wants us to do.”

As is traditional in his annual address to the diplomatic corps, the Pope provided a quick summary of the Vatican’s view on international affairs. Among the positive developments of the past year, he mentioned several peace initiatives: the progress toward a settlement in the Middle East; the exploratory talks between China and Taiwan and North and South Korea; the efforts to bring an end to ethnic rivalries in Africa; and the dialogue between the government and guerrilla groups in Colombia. The Pope also mentioned a series of concerns: the drug traffic and political corruption in Latin America; the continuing ethnic strife in Africa; and the “precarious equilibrium” between rich and poor in Asia. And he observed that Europe had seen “terrible violence” during the year: a reference to the warfare in the Balkans and more recently in Chechnya.

Pointing to the preamble of the United Nations charter, the Pope insisted that respect for fundamental human rights has already gained universal acceptance—at least on a theoretical plane. “What we lack is certainly not new texts of juridical instruments,” he said. “It is simply the political will to apply without discrimination the principles that already exist.” He concluded with a challenge to world leaders, who “by their personal choices and programs of action can lead entire societies toward life or toward death.”

As of January 10, there are 171 countries with ambassadors accredited to the Holy See (or, to be exact, 170 countries plus the Sovereign Order of Malta). There are also two special missions: one from the Russian Federation, another from the Palestinian Authority. During the course of the year 1999, two new countries were added to the list: the Cook Islands and St. Kitts and Nevis—small island nations located in the Pacific and the Caribbean respectively.

Cardinal Paolo Dezza, RIP
Former Jesuit leader was 98

On December 18, Pope John Paul II paid tribute to Cardinal Paolo Dezza, SJ, who had died on the previous day, shortly after celebrating his 98th birthday.

In a telegram addressed to the general headquarters of the Society of Jesus, the Holy Father said that the Jesuit prelate had been “a faithful servant of the Church, who in the many positions that he held during his long life, always showed himself to be an authentic witness to the Gospel.”

Cardinal Dezza had known eight popes, the Holy Father pointed out, and had been confessor to two of them: Paul VI and John Paul I. He had also been a consultor to many dicasteries of the Roman Curia. In October 1981, as the Father General of the Jesuit order (Father Pedro Arrupe) lay ill, Pope John Paul named Father Dezza as a pontifical delegate to head the Society of Jesus until 1983, when a general congregation elected Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach. In June 1991, the Pope elevated him to the College of Cardinals.

ITALY

Garage construction resumes
Compromise satisfies conservationists

The Italian government has skirted calls for a lengthy investigation and given its approval for the completion of a new Vatican parking garage which is being built to accommodate Jubilee Year pilgrims.

Construction of a primary entry ramp to the garage was halted early in December after artifacts from the construction site on the Janiculum hill were found in a Rome dump. After protests from preservationists who said the builders were destroying the remains of an ancient Roman villa in order to finish the project on time, the ramp construction was halted.

Rome’s mayor Francesco Rutelli warned that a halt to construction could cause nightmarish traffic jams near St. Peter’s Basilica. The approval to continue construction came from Premier Massimo D’Alema’s divided Cabinet, which brokered a compromise between conservationists and builders. Under the terms of the agreement, the construction process will be completed only after the site has been thoroughly excavated, so that any remaining archeological treasures can be recovered. The delay meant that the garage would not be ready for the opening of the Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve, but it should be complete in time for the first major peak in the rush of visitors, which is expected for Holy Week.

Echoes of Nazi ideology?
Vatican enters debate in Sicilian case

A heated public debate over the pregnancy of a mentally retarded girl prompted the Vatican’s newspaper to speak out forcefully against the trend toward eugenics and racism.

The case involved a 13-year-old Sicilian girl who was three months pregnant. The father was believed to be a 14-year-old friend, who is also retarded. The parents of the girl—who was identified only as “Laura”—insisted that she have an abortion. She responded by running away from home, and was sheltered in a foster home while Italian juvenile courts weighed her parents’ demands.

Writing in L’Osservatore Romano, Father Gino Concetti said that the argument in favor of abortion was “a shameful insult to the human conscience, a crime against a human being whose only ‘crime’ is to have been conceived in an act of sexual violence at the expense of a handicapped girl, who lacks the capacity to make decisions for herself and for her own child.” He complained that “the handicapped are treated like things—objects for the will of others.” Such attitudes, the moral theologian wrote, echo the ugly racial theories of the Nazi era.

The case was settled when the juvenile court in Modica ruled that “Laura” should not be required to have an abortion. The girl was reported to be delighted with the court’s decision, and looking forward to the birth of her child in May. Church leaders in Sicily have promised to provide all necessary care for the girl and her baby. And Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, rejoiced that the court had shown “respect for the life and the baby and respect for the will of this young mother.”

BELGIUM

Assault on families
New policy recognizes non-marital unions

The Vatican newspaper sharply criticized a new Belgian government policy which allows for legal registration of non-marital unions. The Belgian policy was approved by the country’s parliament in November 1998, but only took effect in January 2000.

L’Osservatore Romano said that the policy represents a move “toward the disintegration of society.” The January 8 edition of the newspaper emphasized the fact that the new law recognizes homosexual unions. Thus, L’Osservatore argued, the government policy is a “concession to deviancy,” which cannot be justified on ethical or juridical grounds.

Father Gino Concetti, the moral theologian for the Vatican paper, wrote that the “dangerous and perverse” new policy risks the creation of “a society that is atomized and disintegrating.” As disparate interest groups claim their own “subjective rights,” he warned, there would be no understanding of the common good, and therefore no path to social equilibrium.

FRANCE

“Cruel hypocrisy”
French schools distribute “morning-after” pills

L’Osservatore Romano also condemned the distribution of the “morning-after” pill in French schools.

On January 6, French authorities authorized the distribution of the Norlevo contraceptive pill in schools. School administrators are now allowed to give the pill to teenage girls, without informing their families. In the January 8 edition, the official Vatican newspaper said the new policy shows “cruel hypocrisy.”

The “morning-after” pill, the Vatican paper pointed out, is in fact an abortifacient. “It has the effect of destroying an egg which has already been fertilized, and thus is a human embryo, rather than by preventing conception,” L’Osservatore said.

Although some French authorities have argued that the contraceptive pills would prevent pregnancies, and thus limit the demand for abortion, the Vatican newspaper dismissed that argument. In using the “morning-after” pill, the column observed, “the intention to abort is manifest—on the part of the adolescent and on the part of the public authorities as well.”

The Vatican paper also deplored the fact that the pill will be administered without informing the families of the teenage girls involved. While admitting that some parents may neglect their responsibilities toward their adolescent children, L’Osservatore reasoned that the French policy, “far from helping the family with its educational responsibility, discredits the family in practice.”

The distribution of abortifacient pills also causes serious harm, the newspaper argued, by encouraging “the illusion that the consequences of irresponsible behavior can find easy medical remedies.”

GERMANY

Comments cause a furor
Bishop denies suggesting Pope should resign

Bishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz, Germany, who provoked a storm of controversy with his comments on the possibility of a papal resignation, has insisted that he was not suggesting that the Pope should resign.

On January 9, a German television interviewer had asked Bishop Lehmann whether the Pope might consider stepping down at the age of 80, because of his declining physical condition. The bishop responded: “The Holy Father has the power to make a brave admission, saying: ‘I can no longer perform my duty adequately.’” Bishop Lehmann told the audience of the Deutschlandfunk radio program that he felt sure “the Pope would do so if he felt he was no longer capable of guiding the Church authoritatively.”

On the following day, after his comments received front-page coverage in the Italian press, Bishop Lehmann used a Vatican Radio broadcast as an opportunity to clarify his remarks. “I never asked for the Holy Father’s resignation,” he said. “That would not be my style, and it would not correspond to my thinking.”

Bishop Lehmann said that the Pope appears to be “in good form, intellectually,” and had taken a keen interest in the opening of the Holy Year. He added that he was quite certain Pope John Paul “would have the courage and the strength, if one day he deems it necessary, to make his own decision on this matter.” The German bishop said he was “extremely upset” with the Italian reporters who had, he charged, distorted his remarks.

On the morning of January 10, as Italian newspapers blared out headlines about the possibility of the Pope’s resignation, John Paul himself met with the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, and received their best wishes and hopes for “many more years as successor to Peter.”

Ambassador Giovanni Galassi of San Marino, as the dean of the Vatican diplomatic corps, addressed the Holy Father on behalf of the assembled ambassadors. After taking notice of the media stories about papal resignation, the ambassador made a last-minute change in his prepared text, adding an extra sentence which was clearly intended as a response to those suggestions. Galassi told the Pontiff: “We wish you many more years as successor to Peter, because we need your help—to invite us to walk with you at Christ’s side, and to share your energy with us.”

ENGLAND

Debt cancelled
Aid groups laud government decision

Britain’s decision to cancel the debts of developing countries as a gesture to celebrate the new millennium has been praised by aid campaigners.

On December 18, Chancellor Gordon Brown confirmed that the United Kingdom will write off hundreds of millions of pounds in debts owed by some of the world’s poorest countries. He said that the debts of the first four countries on the list—Uganda, Mozambique, Bolivia, and Mauritania—should be officially approved for a debt amnesty by the end of January. Details of the government’s plans for cancellation of the debt were not immediately available.

Brown told BBC Radio, “It’s obviously only a start to completing this process of debt relief and poverty reduction, but it is the important start that I think everyone is looking for. It is no longer a question of people talking about what they are going to do, it is now a question of action.”

Jubilee 2000, an organization which has rallied support for the cause of debt reduction, said the British move was “wonderful news.” Spokesman Ann Pettifer said: “It isn’t a great deal of money, but it is politically very important, because Canada has already committed to writing off its debt; so has President Clinton on behalf of the United States, now Britain.”

“There will be a domino effect,” she added. “We need to persuade Japan, and France and Germany to do the same and then it will start to make a real difference to those poor countries.”

Registering births
A secular alternative to baptism

Britain’s public registrars have announced plans to launch a new civil “naming” ceremony for newly-born infants, but denied that they are trying to lure people away from church baptisms.

Under the new scheme, parents will be able to have the children named at registry offices and other designated offices in a ceremony which includes them promising to “support, love, and care” for their child. Martin Smith, manager of Cheshire’s registration service, told the Press Association: “The pilot scheme has been introduced to meet a need identified both by the government and our own researchers. In fact one-third of those who registered births with us said that they would be interested in such a ceremony.”

Smith denied that they were offering an alternative to the traditional christening ceremony. “We are merely providing a service for those who feel they would rather make the commitment this way,” he said.

But a Scottish Catholic Church spokesman, Msgr. Tom Connelly, told the Daily Record: “This is absolutely pointless. Why people would pay money for this is beyond me.” He added, “People seem to think that there are secular answers to everything, but I disagree. This is obviously for people with no faith. Baptism is extremely important. This is trivializing parenthood.”

Civil “child naming” ceremonies were first introduced in Britain around 15 years ago by the Humanist Association.

A Catholic monarch?
Anglican leader supports a change

One of the most senior figures in the Church of England has joined the campaign for an end to the ban on Catholics ascending the British throne or marrying a monarch.

Dr. David Hope, the Anglican Archbishop of York—whose rank within the Church of England is second only to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury—called for a change in the Coronation Oath, in which the new monarch vows “to maintain the Protestant religion established by law.” And he backed reform of the 1701 Act of Settlement, which bars the monarch from marrying a Catholic.

“I should be far happier with the oath being a promise to uphold the Christian faith rather than only the Protestant faith,” Hope said in an interview with the Sunday Times. “The more partisan approach of earlier times needs to be reconsidered.” He continued:

I cannot see why members of the royal family should not be free to marry whom they will. It is a very negative view of the Roman Catholic Church. We’re living in a different age and a different climate and the arrangements should reflect that. Some movement of accommodation is necessary bearing in mind the warm relationships between Roman Catholics and other churches in this country.

Catholic historian Ian Ker congratulated Archbishop Hope for “disowning the Protestant identity of this country.” He added: “We now see the second-most senior figure in the Church of England laying a time bomb at the foundation of the establishment of the Church of England.”

IRELAND

Catholic Mass in Anglican cathedrals?
Archbishop declines an invitation

The Archbishop of Dublin has turned down an invitation to authorize the celebration of Mass by Catholic priests in one of the city’s two Episcopalian cathedrals.

The Irish capital has two Protestant Cathedrals: St. Patrick’s (the Church of Ireland’s national cathedral) and Christ Church (the diocesan cathedral). Both were Catholic until the Reformation in the 16th century, when they were handed over to the Church of Ireland. Despite the fact that Dublin is an overwhelmingly Catholic city, it has no Catholic cathedral—a reminder of the anti-Catholic Penal Laws, which were finally abolished in 1829. Irish Catholics make do with a 19th century “pro-cathedral,” built on a back street near the city center.

In a newspaper interview in November, the Dean of St. Patrick’s, Robert MacCarthy, invited the Catholic Church to celebrate Mass at the cathedral on weekdays. Dean MacCarthy said he made the offer knowing “no issue of principle is involved. Mass is said in houses.” He believed that Catholic Masses in the cathedral would broaden its appeal to foreign tourists, many of whom were not Anglicans.

But the invitation was not supported by all members of the Church of Ireland and a series of letters in the Irish Times indicated significant opposition to the proposal

Just before Christmas, Archbishop Desmond Connell turned down the invitation. The archbishop’s spokesman said he believed there was “a risk of the Eucharist becoming a divisive issue” because of the division within the Church of Ireland over the proposal. He also pointed out that there were many Catholic churches close to St. Patrick’s where tourists can attend Mass if they wish.

Two years ago, Ireland’s President Mary McAleese—a Catholic—received communion at a service in Christ Church Cathedral. Irish newspapers published photographs of the president receiving the chalice at the service. Shortly afterwards, the former United States ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy-Smith—also a Catholic—received communion in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

In a radio interview shortly after those incidents, Archbishop Desmond Connell said that, for Catholics, partaking of communion in a Protestant church is “a sham,” since it implies an ecclesial unity that does not exist. The resulting uproar forced the archbishop to explain that he did not mean that Anglican Communion was cheap or shoddy, but that it was not what it appeared to be.

The archbishop said that, if the rules for inter-communion were changed because of public pressure, there could be “a blurring of the boundaries about what we believe about the Eucharist and about who we are.”

Dean MacCarthy said he regretted Archbishop Connell’s decision to turn down the invitation. He said that gestures were important and the archbishop had missed an opportunity for “moving things on a bit.” The dean said all ecumenical progress over the past 25 years had been opposed by “a critical minority in all the churches.”

Attendance dropping
Scandals, prosperity cited as causes

Church attendance in Ireland has dropped to its lowest level ever, according to a new survey.

The poll by Irish Marketing Surveys found that only half the population of the Irish Republic attended church weekly, a drop of 13 percent in the past year. Ten percent of those questioned said they went to church once a month, 5 percent went on holy days and 13 percent never went to church at all.

A spokesman for the Archbishop of Dublin said the findings were disappointing. He blamed the fall in religious practice on the recent spate of sex scandals which have rocked the Church in Ireland. Spokesman Ronan Mullen also said Ireland’s new economic prosperity was leading to a loss of faith. But Mullen added: “We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the majority of Irish Catholics still practice their faith.”

The survey found that 94 percent of the population of the Irish Republic describe themselves as Catholic, 2 percent as Protestant and 3 percent as members of other faiths, atheists or agnostics.

Church attendance in Ireland has been falling steadily since the 1960s, when more than 90 percent of the population attended weekly Mass.

Tax proposal causes backlash
“Sacrificing families to the Celtic Tiger”

The Celtic Tiger—the catchphrase for the booming economy of the Republic of Ireland— is bringing its own problems for the Irish Government.

Once an underdeveloped backwater, Ireland’s economy is today one of the fastest growing in Europe. But in a country where emigration was once the norm, even today’s net immigration is not providing enough workers to fill all the jobs available.

The coalition government, in its end-of-November budget, decided to try and resolve the problem by granting bigger tax breaks to two-income families, thus encouraging mothers to go out to work.

The measures meant that, next year, a family with one earner bringing in $66,000 would pay $18,000 in tax, whereas a family with the same income but two earners would pay $2,000 less. In three years, the difference would be even greater. If the income of both families had risen to $75,000, the single-income family would pay about $21,000 in tax, whereas a couple where each earned $37,500 would pay a little over $13,000.

But the proposed changes provoked an uproar—not just from mothers, but among politicians, financial commentators, and religious groups. Lawyers questioned whether the proposal was constitutional. (Article 41 of the Irish Constitution, dealing with the family and education, recognizes that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.” Article 41.1.2 adds: “The State shall therefore endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”) Archbishop Desmond Connell of Dublin said the proposal was discriminatory, and called on the Minister for Finance to reverse the measure. Ireland’s largest trade union withdrew from talks on a new national wage agreement in protest. The president of the union described the tax proposals as an “indefensible attack on low-income families.”

Four independent members of Parliament, whose support was crucial for the coalition government, also demanded that the measure be changed. And Dana Rosemary Scallon, the Independent pro-life Member of the European Parliament for Connacht/Ulster, accused the Irish government of “sacrificing families to the Celtic Tiger.”

Eventually on December 8—the Feast of the Immaculate Conception— the government bowed to pressure and announced a £3,000 a year tax allowance for one-income families in which the parents are caring for children or elderly or handicapped people. But many politicians were unhappy with the amendment. They said it did not go far enough to protect families, and that it discriminated against women whose children have grown up. They warn that the battle is only beginning.

NORTH IRELAND

“No” to artificial fertilization
Fertility clinic challenges the law

A Belfast, Northern Ireland, woman whose eggs were frozen while she underwent cancer treatment has been told she is not legally allowed to try to achieve pregnancy. But a leading London fertility clinic has launched a High Court challenge to change the rules.

Carolyn Neill was told by doctors that radiotherapy would almost certainly make her infertile, so she opted to store some unfertilized eggs for future use. And now that she has been given a clean bill of health she would like to start a family.

However, current British fertility legislation says that while a woman’s eggs may be frozen, they may not later be thawed and fertilized. Meanwhile Neill’s ova remain at the Assisted Reproduction and Gynecology Center in London, whose director, Dr. Mohammed Taranissi, is battling for the procedure to be approved.

Neill told the BBC, “I feel very cross. It should be down to Dr. Taranissi and myself to discuss what we should do, not the government to have a law that is cut and dried. If you are allowed to do one stage, why not the end stage?” She added: “I just felt it had been a waste of time, that hope was gone all of a sudden, but I know that Dr. Taranissi and other clinics were fighting for the law to be changed.”

But the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child has condemned the whole procedure of artificial fertilization, saying that it opened a “Pandora’s Box” which could lead to the commercialization of test tube babies. “I can see a situation arising where the partner would have to use a surrogate mother to carry the frozen egg without the dead woman’s consent,” said a spokesman.

SWEDEN

Church and state to separate
Ending a historic tie

The government of Sweden terminated its formal affiliation with the Lutheran Church on New Year’s Day, ending five hundred years of established state religion.

The Swedish Parliament approved the change in 1995, ending appointment of bishops by the government and disbursement of tax dollars to the church. Although 90 percent of Swedes are Lutheran, both government and religious leaders think that all of Sweden will benefit from the change.

“It’s a happy separation—or a happy divorce—that has evolved over many years, and that is very good,” said Carl-Einar Nordling of the Ministry of Culture. “Swedish society has outgrown the state church system,” Nordling said. “The state church system is founded on the ideology of ‘one country, one people, one ruler.’ You only have to say that to feel how foreign it is in today’s society.”

According to recent polls, most Swedes do not attend church services on a regular basis. Just one in 100 attends services as regularly as once a week, a poll commissioned by the church found. The telephone survey, released in November, indicated the vast majority attend no more than a couple of times a year.

BOSNIA-
HERZEGOVINA

Midnight Mass once again
First celebration since warfare began

Thousands of Catholics gathered in Banja Luka on Christmas Eve for the first Midnight Mass to be celebrated in the town since the breakup of Communist Yugoslavia in 1991.

Bishop Franjo Komarica celebrated Mass for the two thousand Bosnian Croat Catholics living in the mainly Serbian Orthodox town. After the 1995 Dayton peace accords, Christmas Mass was celebrated only during the day for security reasons.

Bishop Komarica has urged the approximately 220,000 Croat Catholics displaced during the war to return to their homes in the northern region of the Serb republic which, with the Muslim-Croat federation, makes up Bosnia. In his Christmas message, the bishop called for a renewal of “peace and love as 2000 was approaching.”

POLAND

Pornography ban advances
Legislators approve new law

On December 16, the lower house of Poland’s parliament passed a bill that outlaws hard-core pornography—a measure supported by the Solidarity bloc (AWS) and the Catholic Church.

“We are pleased and satisfied. Today’s decision by parliament is a Christmas present for families,” said Antonii Szymanski of the AWS. While the upper house is expected to pass the bill without opposition, President Aleksander Kwasniewski has not indicated whether he will sign the measure into law.

The availability of pornography in Poland and the whole of Eastern Europe exploded after the 1989 fall of Communism. Artur Shultz, a spokesman for the Polish bishops, observed: “We are against pornography because it turns human beings into objects. Tightening regulations against pornography is a move in the right direction, but we must wait and see whether the law will be obeyed.”

BELARUS

Bishop fears imminent arrest
Orthodox prelate at odds with government

The leader of Belarus’s Autocephalous Orthodox Church may soon be arrested, after a year in hiding from the secret police in the former Soviet republic.

Bishop Petro Hushcha has been subject to an arrest warrant issued by the Security Council of Belarus, and has issued an appeal for international assistance. In December, some of his friends and supporters were detained by the local police and questioned as to the bishop’s whereabouts.

Bishop Hushcha was originally arrested in March 1998, allegedly for exposing himself in front of two girls. He was charged with gross and lewd behavior towards minors, but prosecutors later changed that to a charge of “malicious hooliganism, committed with particular impudence and cynicism.” During his imprisonment he was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where the doctors declared he was of sound mind. After his sentence to three years in prison was reduced and he was temporarily released, the bishop went into hiding. The sentence was later reinstated, but police have not been able to find the bishop.

Supporters insist that the charges against Bishop Hushcha are spurious, and that the government is actually punishing the Church leader for building up the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Belarus—a body which is separated from the local branch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Belarus’s government leadership has consistently sought to revive Soviet-era ties with Russia, including a religious identity of Belarus as Russian Orthodox territory.

RUSSIA

New pleas for Chechnya peace
Vatican paper fears a bloodbath

The official Vatican newspaper has issued an urgent call for a truce in Chechnya.

L’Osservatore Romano argued, in the December 19 edition, that a truce was the only way to “avoid a bloodbath.” The paper observed that Russian authorities should not run the risk of enlarging a crisis which could “have an impact on the entire region of the Caucasus.”

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during his trip to Moscow December 11-15. The cardinal had said, on his return, that the search for peaceful solutions to the conflict in Chechnya could not be abandoned.

Harsh words for the Vatican
And no progress toward a papal visit

In December, after a visit to Moscow, Cardinal Angelo Sodano downplayed comments by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II, who had lashed out against the activities of Catholics in Russia and the former Soviet republics.

The patriarch accused Catholics of seeking to lure believers away from Orthodox congregations in areas which, he insisted, are traditionally Orthodox territories. He singled out the Vatican for special criticism, and flatly rejected any suggestion of a papal visit to Moscow. But Cardinal Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, insisted that his visit with the Russian prelate had been “cordial.” The cardinal told reporters that the candid expression of differing opinions can be a means of achieving mutual understanding.

Cardinal Sodano conceded that there has been no progress toward the Pope’s goal of visiting Russia. But he did reject the Orthodox patriarch’s suggestion that the Pope had added to tensions between Rome and Moscow by visiting the former Soviet republic of Georgia without first seeking the approval of the Russian Orthodox Church. “There are at lest 15 large Orthodox churches in the world,” Cardinal Sodano observed; “If the Pope sought consent from all of them for his trips, he would never go anywhere.”

Iraq visit postponed, not cancelled
Church leaders back government explanation

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Raphael II Bidawid of Baghdad has said that the proposed trip by Pope John Paul II to Iraq was postponed because of security considerations. But he insists that the plans have not been permanently abandoned.

Speaking to the Fides news agency, the patriarch said: “We are very sad that the visit has to be put off yet again, but here in Iraq nothing is stable.” He added: “Nevertheless the Holy Father’s visit is not cancelled, it is only postponed: the Jubilee year is long and the millennium is only just beginning.”

Patriarch Raphael also sided with the official Iraqi explanation for scuttling the papal visit. On December 10, in announcing the decision to break off preparations, the Vatican press office had cited a message from Iraqi authorities that “the abnormal conditions in Iraq due to the embargo and no-fly zone, and the situation in the rest of the region, make it impossible to organize adequately a papal visit to Ur of Chaldea in Iraq.”

Preparations for the Pope’s visit had been set back since September, when an Iraqi government news agency issued a statement by Muslim leaders sharply criticizing the Pontiff. However, the patriarch insisted that the Muslim leaders’ criticism was not a major factor in Iraq itself. He told Fides that “only in the West was this given space; in Iraq nobody gave any importance to the criticism.”

“It is not a question of Vatican-Iraq relations” the patriarch continued. “I can say that the Iraqi government and the Holy See have a good relationship. Iraq would be honored to welcome the Pope.”

The Chaldean Catholic leader claimed that organizers were worried that American or British bombers might attack the papal entourage. “The Americans and the British have all the air space in their hands,” he said. “Months ago they bombed an area near Ur. And what if they—or some madmen acting in their name—were to bomb the site during the papal visit? Certainly the international community would blame Iraq; they would give our country all the blame.”

Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican’s top foreign-policy official, has also indicated that plans for the papal trip to Iraq have been postponed rather than cancelled. Archbishop Tauran, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, lent his own support to the Iraqi government explanation for the breakdown in preparations.

The archbishop indicated that the Pope still cherishes a desire to make a pilgrimage to Ur of the Chaldeans—the home of the biblical patriarch Abraham. He indicated that the planning for such a pilgrimage could be resumed at some unspecified future date.

QUATAR

Building permit
Church to open in Islamic land

The Islamic government of Qatar has approved the building of a Catholic church in the capital to serve the estimated 60,000 Catholics—most of them migrant workers—who live in the Persian Gulf country.

The Gulf Times newspaper quoted Italian Ambassador Ignazio Di Pace as calling the move “a very important step, consistent with the principles of tolerance and freedom.” The Italian legate praised the country’s ruler, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, for allowing the construction of a Christian church.

Some other Persian Gulf countries—including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait—already have churches and allow Christians to practice their faith freely. Other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, do not.

ISRAEL

Historic synod
Orthodox Church leaders gather

For the first time in 60 years, almost all of the leaders of the world’s Orthodox Churches gathered for a January synod in the Holy Land, meeting under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem.

The 14 Orthodox patriarchs who participated in the synod represented all of the world’s major Orthodox bodies except the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose patriarch was unable to attend because of illness. The prelates discussed the past and the future of the Orthodox faith during a two-hour meeting, but did not pass any resolutions.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem asked his colleagues to work for the stability of their churches and unity among them, despite rivalries that plague the churches. The most important dispute among the Orthodox bodies today concerns the role of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, whose recent efforts to unify Orthodoxy under his title as Ecumenical Patriarch have been dubbed “neo-papism” by critics in the Russian Orthodox Church. The patriarch has also been criticized for his close ties with Pope John Paul II.

After their discussions, all 15 Orthodox Patriarchs participated in a midnight liturgical celebration of Christmas—which, for the Orthodox world, takes place on January 6. The patriarchs were joined by Palestinian and Jordanian choirs and by dozens of Orthodox priests. Also on hand for the ceremony was former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who had resigned from office less than a week earlier.

No Israeli political escort
Papal visit will emphasize spiritual pilgrimage

When Pope John Paul II visits the Holy Land in March, he will be accompanied by Israeli security guards, but not by Israeli politicians, according to the Latin-rite Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Patriarch Michel Sabbah said that the Holy Father will travel alone to emphasize that his trip is spiritual in nature and not political. The patriarch pointed out that if the Pope were to visit east Jerusalem, a disputed area claimed by both Palestinians and Israelis, the presence of Israeli leaders with the papal party might send a message that the Pontiff supports Israel’s political claims.

“During the visit of the Holy Father inside the holy city, he will not be escorted by any political authority,” Patriarch Sabbah said. “He will be just escorted by religious people who will pray with him.” Yoav Koren, an adviser to Israeli Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon—the Israeli government liaison for the Pope’s visit—said the final details had not yet been worked out, but that in principle it was up to the Pope to decide who would accompany him.

Jordan running dry?
Israeli discouragement for Christian pilgrims

Israeli officials have warned that pilgrims to the Holy Land may find that a Jordan River site where many Christians choose to be baptized is running dry.

Israeli Water Commissioner Meir Ben-Meir said the water level at the Yardenit site at the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee is at a record low after two years of drought. “It might dry up if we don’t have sufficient quantities of rain,” he said. “But if the water in the lake doesn’t sink below the current level, water will continue to reach the site.”

Israel established Yardenit as a site where Christian pilgrims can undergo or renew their baptisms, with up to 700,000 expected to take part in 2000. The actual site of Jesus’ baptism is further south on the river, and is only accessible to tour groups who obtain a special permit.

EGYPT

Christians, Muslims clash
Church to open in Islamic land

Twenty people were killed in three days of fighting between Christians and Muslims in southern Egypt following a dispute between a shopkeeper and a customer at the beginning of January.

All of the dead were in the village of el-Kusheh, according to an Interior Ministry statement. Coptic Bishop Wissa, whose diocese includes the villages hit by the unrest, said that the victims, all Christians, died during rampages by Muslim protesters. The Egyptian government said that 44 people were injured and more than 20 buildings destroyed before security forces moved in to quell the riots. Bishop Wissa gave a somewhat higher count of the damages, saying that a church and 50 homes, shops, and warehouses had been burned; he added that many looters had been arrested.

El-Kusheh, a village with a large Christian population in a predominantly Muslim land, drew international attention when Christians said police had resorted to torture and other brutality during a 1988 murder investigation.

MIDDLE EAST

Warning on anti-discrimination measure
Pro-family groups see danger of abuse

In December, pro-family organizations warned political leaders in the Middle East that they should not sign the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Kinds of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was originally approved by the United Nations in 1979.

The groups’ comments came as UN gender czar Angela King completed a five-day tour of Middle Eastern countries, trying to persuade them to adopt the treaty. Many Muslim countries have signed CEDAW only with reservations, because some parts would conflict with Islamic Shari’a law. The pro-family organizations warned Islamic leaders that the treaty would now create even more problems for Muslim countries, because enforcement of the pact has been “hijacked by radicals” at the UN.

Kathryn Balmforth, a civil-rights attorney and director of the World Family Policy Center, argued that Muslim leaders who sign the CEDAW “have exposed themselves to an endless round of browbeating from feminists on the commission.” Balmforth argued that the CEDAW enforcement committee is hostile to motherhood and to religion. “When national governments pass laws protecting motherhood, they are whipsawed by the CEDAW committee, which accuses them of paternalism, or of perpetuating damaging stereotypes,” said Balmforth. She says the CEDAW committee has “ridiculed governments for portraying motherhood as a noble calling.”

Balmforth pointed to some of CEDAW’s most controversial pronouncements, including criticizing one government because only 30 percent of children under three years old were in day care, while the rest were being cared for by family members. The committee also called on China to legalize prostitution, even though the treaty explicitly condemns the practice.

AFRICA

Curb weapons trade, Vatican envoy pleads
Arms traffic fuels ethnic violence

The Holy See has called for curbs on the arms traffic in Africa, saying that without some such restraints, the warfare on the continent is likely to continue and escalate.

Msgr. George Panikulam delivered that appeal on behalf of the Vatican at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, which was looking into the causes of conflict in Africa. Msgr. Panikulam (who was ordained to the episcopate by Pope John Paul II on January 6) argued that, in the many cases of terrorist violence that have troubled the continent in recent years, those who have furnished the weapons are guilty, as well as those who have used them.

The Vatican representative also observed that the enormous expenditures on arms and military equipment have drained the finances of African countries, thereby contributing to the poverty of the population. He lamented the apparent indifference of the international community, which has done nothing to stem the flow of armaments into such troubled countries as Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and Sudan —all of which are currently embroiled in bloody civil warfare. And he noted that some wealthy countries actually profit from the arms traffic, at the expense of the African people.

Since 1970 there have been 30 full-scale wars in Africa, directly affecting 14 of the continent’s 53 countries, Msgr. Panikulam observed. In addition to the millions of battlefield casualties, the devastation caused by those wars has indirectly produced famines, epidemics of disease, and an unprecedented flow of refugees.

SUDAN

Call for reconciliation
Church makes bid for peace

On the eve of Christmas, Bishop Cesare Mazzolari of Rumbek, in southern Sudan—an area controlled by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army—launched a plea for peace addressed to the “chiefs and traditional leaders, civil servants, and military commanders” of the Bahr El Ghazal Region.

“Today we ask for your full cooperation in the effort to re-establish the observance of the commandments of God, his law of love, and especially respect for the human rights of every individual in the heart of each person in Sudan. Work with your constituents to achieve this goal in a spirit of harmony with all people regardless of their race, creed or color,” he said.

In his appeal, the bishop confirmed that in the new century, “the Church wants to lead all the people of Sudan to the light of God, our Father, and to a spirit of unity, justice, and lasting peace.” He added, “As we celebrate Reconciliation, we ask the Lord to forgive the wrongs we have done as individuals and as groups against God and against one another. We also commit ourselves to undo the culture of war that defies our traditional moral tenets and many Christian moral principles.”

Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir also voiced a call for reconciliation. In an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram, he called on the exiled leaders of the country’s political opposition to return to their homeland “and take part in the dialogue about Sudan’s political future.” The call came nine days after the president decreed the dissolution of parliament and proclaimed a state of emergency in a crackdown on Muslim fundamentalists. Bashir launched his message of reconciliation through the Egyptian press because many National Democratic Alliance leaders have taken refuge in Cairo, which hosts opposition groups both from the north and south of Sudan.

Religious schools only
Imposing an Islamic agenda

Sudan’s Islamic government has ordered state governors to convert government primary schools into Muslim schools. Christians in the country have expressed fears that the order will increase hostility against the Christian minority and undermine their right to raise their children in their own faith.

President Bashir announced the order at a graduation ceremony for teachers. He said the goal is to change society to enable it to live in accordance with the teachings of the Koran.

“We thought the recent removal of the fundamentalist Islamist Hassan al-Turabi from the center stage of Sudanese politics would make the government more tolerant of other religions but it appears nothing has changed,” said one teacher at a school for refugee Christian Sudanese. Bashir sought to curb the influence of Turabi, parliament speaker and secretary general of the ruling National Congress party, when he declared a three-month state of emergency and dissolved parliament on December 12.

 ETHIOPIA/ERITREA

Another wartime Christmas
Papal nuncio calls for peace talks

In a Christmas message to the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican envoy to the two African countries, called for peace talks between the two countries, and a redoubled effort to end their long war.

“I pray that good sense will prevail and that peace will be re-established since it is the only way to guarantee the development of these two countries which have already suffered so much,” said Archbishop Tomasi. The long border war has already claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“At all costs, there must be no outside efforts to destabilize the Horn of Africa region,” the archbishop said. “This would be deleterious for the outset of the new millennium. It is logical to think that if the fighting continues the consequences will be tragic; but in this conflict logic counts for little or nothing.”

The conflict, which began as a fight over boundaries, can be explained, the archbishop said, on the one hand by a justifiable demand for national autonomy and identity on the part of Eritrea and on the other by Ethiopia’s desire to maintain its traditional and historical leadership in the Horn of Africa.

Recently, fighting has become more intense while peace mediation, which Algeria is supervising on behalf of the Organization for the Unity of Africa (OUA), is extremely slow. The OUA proposes a plan that includes the withdrawal of troops from the contested zone. The plan was at first opposed by Eritrea; now Ethiopia has also indicated opposition. Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki said during a recent visit to Rome that the plan must be accepted unconditionally by both sides.

KENYA

Condom cover-up
Government hide failures as AIDS preventative

Kenya’s Catholic bishops have accused the government of deliberately covering up the weaknesses of condoms in preventing AIDS.

The bishops, who along with Muslim leaders have urged a campaign to support abstinence and fidelity, said the potential failure rate of condoms has been ignored in official campaigns. “In spite of all the propaganda, the condom has known and recognized shortcomings. The people must be told all the truth about condoms to be able to make informed decisions,” eight bishops told reporters at a December press conference.

“The truth is that the condom has a contraceptive failure rate of up to 40 percent. It is also known to burst or tear, and spillage is common. Latex rubber, which condoms are made of, has pores through which viral-sized particles can squeeze through,” said Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki of Nairobi. “These facts must be brought to the attention of our people.”

The bishops added that huge international and national resources were being directed toward condom distribution and wondered aloud “whether the real purpose of the whole exercise is not population control rather than AIDS prevention.”

INDIA

Two-child limit rejected
Population-control lobby backs off proposal

Indian political parties have rejected a proposed bill to make those with more than two children ineligible to run in elections even to national parliament and state legislatures.

At the all-party meeting convened by the federal health ministry in December to discuss the draft Population Policy, representatives of almost all major political parties opposed the pending 79th Constitutional Amendment bill, which was aimed to curb the population growth rate in India. The controversial bill provided for restricting eligibility to run in elections to those with no more than two children.

While the population control lobby has advocated measures including denial of voting rights and the right to run for office to those with more than two children, the states of Haryana, Orissa, and Rajasthan have already enacted similar laws that render those with more than two children ineligible to be candidates in municipal elections. However, the latest bill sought a national mandate to make the two-child norm binding on prospective candidates in elections for all civic offices—from village council to national parliament.

Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) executive director Nafis Sadik endorsed the stand adopted by Indian political parties in opposing “coercive measures” to control population growth. Imposing a two-child norm through legislation is “not the right direction. It would lead to human rights violations,” said the UNFPA chief, responding to a reporters’ question. “It is not a good policy decision at all,” she added. Sadik said that a campaign of forced sterilization, carried out by the Indian government in the late 1970s, had been a “big setback to family planning programs” in the long run, because it roused political opposition to population-control policies.

Controversial survey halted
Poll of Christians caused protests

Following Christian protests, the police in India’s capital, New Delhi, stopped a controversial survey of attitudes among Christians in some parts of the city—where Christians account for just one percent of the population of 12 million.

The United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) complained to the Delhi Police Commissioner on December 8, expressing “alarm” over the police visits to Christian schools, hospitals, and several individual homes in search of answers to a series of personal questions. Dozens of Christians, including officials from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, held a candlelight vigil in the capital to protest the survey.

The Christian protests led to a furor in the parliament until federal minister Pramod Mahajan assured the legislators that the government was not conducting any such survey on Christians. Meanwhile, Delhi’s police chief issued orders to end any public “survey” that might be taking place—although he told UCFHR coordinator John Dayal that he was not aware of any such poll.

Dayal replied that it was “strange that the Commissioner of Police was unaware of what was going on within his jurisdiction.” Several Christian institutions in Delhi were visited by police officials last week and were asked to fill out forms seeking personal and institutional information, Dayal insisted.

“Some of the information sought on the forms is usually asked of criminals,” Dayal said. He charged that there was a “sinister purpose” behind the effort to collect such information solely from Christians. Early in 1999, the High Court of the western Gujrath state had stopped a “special survey” on the tiny Christian community in the state after a series of attacks on Christians.

CHINA

More Christians detained
Crackdown on religious groups continues

Six Chinese Protestant leaders were sentenced to prison terms in “education through labor” prison camps for operating underground churches, a human rights group revealed in December.

David Zhang and Zheng Shuqian were sentenced to three years; Shen Yiping and Wang Jiasheng to two years and Feng Jianguo and Jing Rongqi to one year, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China. Communist China recently began a major crackdown on unauthorized religious groups in the country. The Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations.

INDONESIA

Army backing for urban violence
Christians are targets in capital city

Extremist Muslims and the country’s military leaders were behind a December 15 arson attack on a Christian complex in east Jakarta close to the central military headquarters that left a theology student dead and 17 people injured, according to eyewitnesses.

Sources said the mastermind behind the attack was the Islamic Defenders’ Front openly supported by army commander Brig. Gen. Djaja Suparman. Witnesses said about 300 people wearing traditional head-dress and white cloths started the fire, which burned down all the buildings in the compound and destroyed several cars and motorcycles. Machete-wielding zealots then attacked residents who were fleeing from the burning compound. The church complex had provided assistance to about 2,000 people including homeless people, orphaned children, and drug addicts.

President Abdurrahman Wahid publicly conceded that political motives were behind the incident, and many groups in Indonesia condemned the attack—including the Catholic bishops’ conference, which said that the attack should be thoroughly investigated.

Island violence
Bloodshed continues on Ambon

More than 50 people were killed late in December in the most intense fighting to date between Christians and Muslims on the Indonesian island of Ambon, where off-and-on conflict resulted in over 1,300 casualties during 1999.

The December battles flared up after a traffic accident in which a Christian driver injured a young Muslim pedestrian. Ambon, one of the Mollucan or Spice Islands, has seen a series of ugly confrontations between rival Christian and Muslim youth gangs. Christians—who make up only a tiny fraction of Indonesia’s predominantly Muslim population—have traditionally been an important minority on the Mollucan Islands. But after an economic crisis in 1997 prompted thousands of Indonesians to move to the Islands in search of employment, the ethnic balance shifted, and violence began to flare.

Church leaders were prompted by the latest wave of violence to call for a UN peacekeeping force on the island of Ambon. “A UN peacekeeping force must be deployed immediately especially to Ambon city and surrounding areas, because the security forces have been unable to restore order,” said Josef Marcus Pattiasina, Secretary General of Communion of Churches in Indonesia.

But international help did not arrive, and by early January thousands of people were fleeing from Ambon to escape the mounting violence. Traveling by private boat or being ferried by the Indonesian navy or air force, more than 10,000 people left their homes and were taken to shelter in mosques, churches, schools, and military barracks.

On January 6, Muslims rallied in Jakarta, demanding a jihad against Christians on the Mollucan Islands. About 5,000 protesters marched from a mosque in Jakarta to the University of Indonesia campus, shouting “Jihad! Jihad!” The protesters demanded the resignation of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who has been assigned to stop the violence, but has not been able to do so. Before marching, the protesters gathered outside the mosque and killed a goat, then smeared its blood on a wooden cross amid loud calls of “Allahu Akbar” (God is great).

Bishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi of Ambon has called for an investigation into the year-long reign of violence. “There must be a serious inquiry into violations of human rights and insistence on dialogue between the groups in conflict,” he said. “This is the only possible way to put an end to the conflict.” He added, “We expect a National Commission for Human Rights to be set up immediately.”

On January 5, Bishop Mandagi met with Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to voice his opinion of the situation in the Mollucas. “Wahid cannot say that the conflict is only an internal affair, which the Ambonese must solve on their own, because it is clear that external forces foment disorder, purposely prolonging the conflict,” the bishop said. He accused the Indonesian army of taking an active role in the conflict, openly violating human rights.

EAST TIMOR

Massacre sites discovered
A first Christmas in freedom

Australian peacekeepers found the bodies of dozens of victims of massacres by pro-Indonesia militias as they investigated two separate locations in East Timor.

Navy divers recovered about a dozen bodies, many of them dismembered, from Lake Maubara. A Timorese human-rights group estimates that 67 villagers were shot or hacked to death by Indonesian soldiers and militias at a church in the nearby town of Liquica on April 6, as part of the militia effort to intimidate voters. “We have been asked to search the lake to see if we can find anything else to connect the atrocity to the [Indonesian army] or the militia in the area at the time,” said Lt. Commodore Jonathan Peacock, the Australian who commanded the naval detachment.

Meanwhile, peacekeepers retrieved 14 bodies from a mass grave in Oecussi, an enclave that is cut off from the rest of East Timor. Australian peacekeepers believe the site contains more than 50 victims.

In a more welcome development, Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili celebrated Mass on Christmas Day at Dili’s only remaining church. His congregation included thousands of Timorese Catholics, who were happily celebrating the first Christmas free from Indonesian rule in 24 years. “This year is the first celebration with freedom—no more Indonesian troops. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,” said Bishop Belo, a Nobel Peace laureate, in his Christmas blessing. During the years of Indonesian occupation, Timorese Catholic churches had been prevented from scheduling midnight Mass on Christmas because of an inflexible 10 pm curfew.

“I feel happy to have a celebration in freedom, but sad for those who have paid for the freedom with their lives and property, sad for those who are in refugee camps,” said Vicente de Paula da Costa Tilman, a retired official of the Indonesian government who lost his own house in the September rampage. “Freedom is like a river, people like fish. Timorese have to swim to survive, otherwise we will float away with the tide.”

BRAZIL

Recovering a statue
Pope asked to return a gift

Officials of the Brazilian town of Paracatu have indicated that they want Pope John Paul II to return a statue given to him by Brazil’s President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

In October, Cardoso presented the statue of St. Anne as a gift to the Holy Father, but residents of the town said the 18th-century carving was not Cardoso’s to give and should be returned. “On the religious side, I’m sure it’s in good hands, but for the sake of Brazilian identity the statue has to come back,” said one of the hundreds of residents who signed a petition demanding the statue’s return.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said that the Holy Father had planned to return the statue to Brazil all along. “As soon as the Vatican chooses a church to house the statue it is coming back,” a ministry spokesman said. But Paracatu residents want the statue returned to them. “With the saint having been in the hands of the Pope and then coming home, Paracatu will be blessed,” one resident said.

BOLIVIA

Jubilee pardon proposal
Bishops seek prisoners’ release

The Bolivian Bishops’ Conference has announced the establishment of a commission to negotiate with the government for the release of some prisoners from jails on the occasion of the Jubilee.

Juan Carlos Nunez, spokesman for the conference, said the commission was established to “ensure that all technical aspects are covered to make the release of some prisoners possible.” He explained that, late last year, the bishops’ conference requested the release of prisoners for Christmas, as part of the Jubilee initiatives, but the government released only 27 inmates from prisons, arguing that a greater number would had been “inconsistent” with the new tough policy on crime.

The spokesman also explained that the bishops now plan to provide a comprehensive list of inmates who could be released for humanitarian reasons during Holy Week, in the same spirit of the Jubilee. “As an example, there are more than 400 inmates older than 65 or younger than 21, plus many others who have acquired a fatal disease or a significant disability,” said Nunez. “This group is the main target for the Church’s proposal, especially those who have shown good conduct.”

He also revealed that the list and a supporting report will be simultaneously presented to the Department of Justice and to the Justice Commission of the Bolivian Congress, requesting the promulgation of a law that would legalize the release. “We have also proposed that the law be named ‘Jubilee 2000,’” Nunez concluded.

COLUMBIA

Rebels asked to show good will
Prelate alarmed by new attacks

After a dramatic increase in Colombian rebel attacks during the month of December, Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino of Cali called on the two largest guerrilla groups to evidence “clear signs of peace to show their willingness for serious peace talks.”

After a series of guerrilla attacks in the regions of Choco and Antioquia, mostly attributed to the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Archbishop Duarte said: “both FARC and ELN (the National Liberation Army) must show at least a minimal desire for peace to the Colombian people.” He added, “It is absolutely absurd to kill soldiers, policemen, and civilians as a way to demonstrate a will for peace; with war we all lose, as the Holy Father has said.” The December assaults took the lives of 64 police officials.

Archbishop Duarte also said that now that the guerrilla groups have agreed to engage in peace negotiations with the government, “they must give a clear, unequivocal signal that they are not just buying time to improve military positions, but really seeking a way to peace.”

The archbishop also warned the government to make “no more concessions until those clear signs are given by guerrilla leaders,” referring to the demands of the guerrilla groups, who want the government to release guerrilla prisoners in exchange for kidnapped policemen and soldiers. “If we release guerrilla members who are responsible for massacres and atrocities, the peace process would lose all credibility before the Colombian people and the world,” he concluded.

VENEZUELA

Devastating floods
Toll reaches 10,000

Late in December, as a series of floods inundated dozens of villages and caused thousands of deaths in Venezuela, Pope John Paul II sent a message to the victims, assuring them that he is with them in prayer.

During his Angelus audience on Sunday, December 19, the Pope asked for prayers for the people in Venezuela who were suffering after two weeks of torrential rain. He asked humanitarian agencies, and “all men of good will” to help restore homes and families in the wake of “this great natural disaster.”

NICARAGUA

Vatican mediation announced
Nicaragua, Honduras seek intervention

Nicaragua’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement announcing that the Vatican is ready to mediate in a conflict that had brought Nicaragua and Honduras close to an armed confrontation.

The ministry announced that in response to a request addressed by Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, expressed Pope John Paul’s desire to prevent a conflict between the two nations.

Tensions between Nicaragua and Honduras flared on November 30, after the Honduran Congress ratified an agreement with Colombia recognizing Colombia’s claim to a large area in the Caribbean that has been claimed by Nicaragua for years. The area—about 800 square miles in area—includes the tourist resort of San Andres Island, controlled by Colombia.

The statement from the Nicaraguan ministry quoted the response of Cardinal Sodano saying: “The Holy See, always willing to serve the cause of peace and even more, of friendship among Christian nations, tirelessly promotes dialogue. In that sense, the Apostolic See has the will to offer its service in whatever is needed to promote peace.”

Aleman responded, “It is reassuring to know that the Holy Father is ready to intervene in order to avoid an increase in tensions. We all want peace, but we also want justice in the region.” Although both countries have denied any intention to solve the conflict by violent means, both have moved troops and armored equipment to the border.

EL SALVADOR

Case closed
No new inquiry into Jesuits’ murder

The president of El Salvador has refused to reopen an investigation into the 1989 murder of six Jesuits, claiming that such a move would reopen old wounds.

A regional human-rights court had recommended that El Salvador seek out the individuals who were responsible for the murder of five Spanish Jesuits, a Salvadorean Jesuit, their cook, and her daughter at the height of the country’s 12-year civil war. But President Francisco Flores said doing so would violate an amnesty agreement that was part of the peace process ending the war in 1992.

Right-wing deaths squads, composed of army officers, were generally believed to be responsible for the killings, because of their belief that the Jesuits sympathized with the country’s Marxist rebels. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission, part of the Organization of American States (OAS), has criticized the government’s decision not to prosecute army officers who subsequently were implicated in the massacre. “We don’t think lightly of the OAS, but we do respect the peace and the enormous price we paid for it,” Flores told a news conference.

UNITED STATES

Abortion rate dropping
But demographic trend may be the cause

The number of abortions performed in the United State in 1997—the last year for which statistics are available—fell to the lowest point in 20 years, according to government figures. But the government statistics do not include pregnancies ended by abortifacient drugs. And the decrease in the number of surgical abortions may be largely attributable to the aging of the country’s female population.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 1.2 million abortions—a significant drop from the historic peak of about 1.5 million each year in the early 1980s. The number of women of child-bearing age who obtained abortions held steady—at about 20 for every 1,000 aged 15 to 44. But the number of abortions dropped in proportion to the number of live births—from 314 in 1996 to 305 in 1997. That last figure represented the lowest rate of abortion since 1975.

However, some analysts note that the decrease in abortions may reflect the women of the “baby boom” generation nearing the end of their child-bearing years. The CDC statistics show that older women are less likely to choose abortion than their younger counterparts. The Alan Guttmacher Institute—a research group affiliated with the Planned Parenthood Federation—revealed that American teenagers have the highest abortion rate in the developed world. The Guttmacher Institute said that the abortion rate among American teenagers is three times as high as that in France. American teenagers are also more likely to begin sexual activity at an early age, the group said.

Finally, the number of pregnancies among American women also dropped to the lowest level in recent years, according to a separate government report. The National Center for Health Statistics found there were 6.24 million pregnancies in 1996—a decrease of 500,000 from the previous year.

MEXICO

Bishop’s transfer protested
Vatican denies political moves

The unexpected transfer of a bishop in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas has caused new tensions there.

Late in December, the Vatican announced that Bishop Paul Vera, the coadjutor bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, would be taking over the larger Saltillo diocese, near the US border. Bishop Vera had been scheduled to assume the leadership of the San Cristobal diocese upon the resignation of Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia.

While the Holy See took the unusual step of issuing a statement to explain Bishop Vera’s new assignment, and insisted that the move was made for purely pastoral reasons, many Mexican journalists insisted that the Vatican had political motives for the transfer. Bishop Ruiz had been a lightning-rod for criticism because of his outspoken support for rebels in Chiapas. When Bishop Vera was installed as coadjutor bishop, most observers believed that he would take a much more neutral approach to the social conflicts in the region, but the new bishop confounded those expectations, and joined Bishop Ruiz in expressing sympathy for the rebels.

The sudden transfer of Bishop Vera “has profound political implications, and will increase the difficulties in the Chiapas peace process,” columnist Luis Hernandez wrote in the leftist newspaper La Jornada. “With it the most conservative positions within the Mexican clergy are strengthened, and it weakens the social mediation function that the San Cristobal diocese played in the armed conflict.” El Templo Mayor, an unsigned column in the Reforma newspaper, added that the decision to send Bishop Vera to Saltillo strengthened the more conservative bishops in Tapachula and Tuxtla Gutierrez, two other dioceses in Chiapas.

Bishop Vera has publicly stated that he was surprised by the appointment but accepts it.

CUBA

Christmas procession
New show of religious devotion

Thousands of Catholics lined Havana’s famed seaside Malecon Boulevard on Christmas Day for the country’s largest religious procession since the Communist revolution in 1959.

The procession, including a tractor-drawn live Nativity Scene, with Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus accompanied by the Three Magi on horseback, wound its way through the city’s streets as people waved from windows and lined the streets. Many older Cubans fondly compared the procession to the public displays of Catholic piety in the early years following Castro’s revolution.

The Christmas procession marked another victory for Cuban Catholics, who have received more and more religious freedom since Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to the country in January 1998. The government had also granted permission for the broadcast of the Holy Father’s Christmas Day message from the Vatican on television.