Quotes and news

A new phase in the relationship between the Church and the Vietnamese government has been struck by the first ever meeting between Pope Benedict XVI with Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary-general of the ruling Communist Party.

For the past five years officials from both sides have been meeting in an effort to establish relations between the two sides. After the meeting the Vatican said the talks had been ‘cordial’, and the Holy See hoped ‘some pending situations may be resolved’.

The Vietnamese government restricts religious activities and both sides disagree over the ownership of parish properties confiscated by the Communist regime.

Catholic schools are forced to teach Islam

Six Catholic schools in East Java, Indonesia, will be teaching Islam to their Muslim students. The choice facing them was either to teach Islam or closing down.

Officials asked whether Islamic schools will also be required to provide Buddhist, Christian or Hindu lessons for their non-Muslim students. The question is considered to be a hypothetical one.

Pope on Abraham

Pope Benedict said the first line of the Creed, I believe in one God, ‘opens us to the infinite world of a relationship with the Lord and with His mystery’. The Pope was speaking at his weekly public audience last Wednesday.

The patriarch Abraham, the Pope continued, is ‘the first great model in speaking about faith in God’. Abraham was able to recognise that ‘the darkness of the unknown is illuminated by the light of a promise’.

God’s promise to Abraham is a paradoxical one, the Pope observed: “He will be blessed, but without the visible signs of blessing. He receives the promise of becoming a great nation, but has a life marked by the sterility of his wife, Sarah. He is led to a new land, but will have to live there as a foreigner.”

Abraham was able to recognise the blessing he had received, the Pope said. He was able to place his trust in God even when he did not fully understand God’s promise. When we recite that first line of the Creed, the Pope said: “We are saying, as does Abraham, ‘I trust in You’.”

Vatican criticises Guardian article

The Vatican has reacted sharply to an English newspaper article claiming that the Vatican has built up a secret real estate portfolio, using funds from the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

The Vatican said the Guardian story reporting that the Vatican bought valuable properties in Britain and elsewhere ‘using cash originally handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929’ was inaccurate. The Vatican said the funds were provided by the Italian government to resolve the Vatican’s claims to property seized by Italy.

As these were agreements bet­ween states, all Italian governments since 1929 respected the agreements.

Vatican press office director Fr Federico Lombardi said the article ‘reveals nothing not known already’.

Bishops welcome French intervention

The Catholic bishops in Mali supported the military intervention by French forces there. A spokesman for the bishops said the intervention should halt the advance of Islamic rebels who had threatened the Christian community.

Fr Edmond Dembele, the secretary of Mali’s episcopal conference, said that now the Catholic community ‘look with hope’ to a French military effort, although they are fearful about the impact of bombing raids on civilian populations.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)