Don’t move the embassy
Cardinal Vincent Nichols wrote to UK Prime Minister Liz Truss saying that moving the British Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “would be seriously damaging to any possibility of lasting peace in the region and to the international reputation of the UK”. He added: “Pope Francis and the leaders of churches in the Holy Land have long called for the international status quo on Jerusalem to be upheld, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN. The city must be shared as a common patrimony, never becoming an exclusive monopoly of any party.”
An ecclesial, not an episcopal conference
Pope Francis has approved the setting up of the first ever ‘ecclesial conference’ instead of a bishops’ conference. Cardinal Pedro Barreto SJ told America magazine the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon “involves bishops, priests, women and men religious and the lay faithful from the nine countries of the Amazon region”. He predicted that “bishops’ conferences will have to transform themselves into ecclesial conferences”, which he sees as “centred on the people of God in accordance with Vatican Council II”.
‘Immoral’ not to raise benefits
Archbishop William Nolan of Glasgow said it is “immoral” for the UK government not to raise the level of benefits in line with inflation. “For decades the UK prided itself on providing a reasonable measure of social security to its citizens who had fallen on rough times – through illness, old age, unemployment or poverty. Guaranteeing security for the most vulnerable in society is a sign of a civilised country. The proposal that the poorest – those relying on benefits – may see a real terms cut in their already meagre support seems so immoral.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)