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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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BELEM, Brazil, MAY 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A Brazilian rancher was convicted of ordering the killing of Sister Dorothy Stang, an American who had been active in halting deforestation by loggers in the Amazon region.
According to the Associated Press, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
The judge said he ''showed a violent personality unsuited to living in society,'' because of his involvement in killing the 73-year-old woman religious.
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Sister Dorothy, of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, was a naturalized Brazilian, who helped to build schools while working with other activists to defend the rights of impoverished farmers.
She was reading the beatitudes when one of two hired gunmen fired six shots into her at close range on Feb. 12, 2005.
The Associated Press reported that human rights defenders were watching this trial to see if the Brazilian courts would finally begin to convict those behind land-related killings in the Amazon state of Para.
Out of 800 estimated land-related killings, only four masterminds have been convicted in the past 30 years.
During the trial, Moura claimed he was innocent of ordering the killing, maintaining that he didn't know Sister Dorothy.
Code: ZE07051611
Date: 2007-05-16
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"Receive the Power" Won Vatican Approval
SYDNEY, Australia, MAY 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The theme song for World Youth Day 2008 was written by singer/songwriter Guy Sebastian, the winner of the first Australian Idol contest in 2003.
"Receive the Power" was written by Sebastian, who will also perform the song at the World Youth Day in July 2008.
In choosing the song, the World Youth Day coordinator, Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher, said that "we wanted a song that was stirring and uplifting."
He added: "The ... theme had to measure up thematically and be an anthem -- yet be easily sung by people of all language backgrounds.
"Above all, it had to engage young people and capture the theme of World Youth Day 2008 -- namely, that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses."
Bishop Fisher remarked that when the World Youth Day organizers heard "Receive the Power," they knew that they had found their anthem: "To put it simply, 'Receive the Power' hit the mark."
The 47-year-old bishop added that Sebastian "knew we needed a song that would inspire the young people of the world to take up Christ's challenge to go to the ends of the earth and be his witnesses; for many people in the Northern Hemisphere, Australia is the ends of the earth!"
A demo recording was delivered to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Vatican dicastery overseeing the youth day preparations, which granted its approval and support during Bishop Fisher's visit to Rome in April.
Bishop Fisher affirmed, "We are confident 'Receive the Power' will rally young Catholics of all backgrounds to World Youth Day in 2008."
Since winning the Australian Idol title, Sebastian has since released three top-five albums and seven top-20 singles, including three that rose to the top of the charts.
Code: ZE07051616
Date: 2007-05-16
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Hopes for Discussion on Marian Aspect of the Church
APARECIDA, Brazil, MAY 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's inaugural address at the bishops' general conference in Aparecida opened the door for a discussion on the role of women in the Church and society, says an expert.
Sandra Ferreira Ribero, who is attending the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean as an expert, pointed to the Pope's comments on chauvinism in Latin American societies.
The Pope said, "In some families in Latin America there still unfortunately persists a chauvinist mentality that ignores the 'newness' of Christianity, in which the equal dignity and responsibility of women relative to men is acknowledged and affirmed."
Ferreira Ribero, a specialist in physics, theology and the sociology of religion, and the national coordinator of the Focolare movement in Brazil, said that she believes the Holy Father mentioned chauvinism and its relation to women as an invitation for further discussion at the conference.
"It is true that the Holy Father underlined this aspect in speaking about the family, but obviously, this goes beyond just the family," Ferreira Ribero said. "Pope John Paul II highlighted what he called the feminine genius. And because the Church is a vast reality, one can look at this from many different points of view."
The conference expert also highlight that the Marian element of the Church -- being equally important to the Petrine-Apostolic element -- "has not been, historically speaking, sufficiently discussed, and this is a challenge for us today."
"Mary is the Queen of Apostles without claiming to have apostolic powers. One thinks immediately of female priesthood, but that is not it," Ferreira Ribero explained, adding that there is "a much greater mission open to women."
"The role of a woman is, practically speaking, the role of Mary in the Church and in society," she said. "Mary is the lay woman par excellence, and therefore the disciple of Christ par excellence."
Code: ZE07051602
Date: 2007-05-16
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Warns of Secularization in Catholic Agencies
APARECIDA, Brazil, MAY 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum says Catholics need to be formed in the faith in order to fight misery in the world, especially in Latin America.
Archbishop Paul Cordes said this Saturday, a day prior to the beginning of the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean, in an address he gave to bishops in Aparecida on some of the fundamental aspects of Benedict XVI's first encyclical "Deus Caritas Est."
Archbishop Cordes underlined that witnessing to God's love "is a value that Latin American Catholics can offer, particularly their pastors."
"Benedict XVI exhorts members of the Church to get involved in the struggle against the world's miseries, to come up with effective goals and bring them to completion," explained the archbishop.
He added: "Faced with a transformed world we must add a second element to these programs and projects: People who witness to God's love in the name of the Church must be formed in the faith.
"The faith formation of volunteers must include that of remedying the world's miseries, in ways that only the Church can offer to humanity."
The Pontifical Council Cor Unum is the Holy See office that promotes and coordinates Catholic aid agencies worldwide.
The 72-year-old archbishop underlined the responsibility of bishops to keep Catholic agencies and volunteers from being conquered by a secularization that eliminates the vision of faith in social and charitable work.
Code: ZE07051601
Date: 2007-05-16
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VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, received in audience the secretary-general of the Arab League and discussed the continuing strife in the Middle East.
According to Vatican Radio, Amr Mussa visited Cardinal Bertone today. Following the meeting, the Arab leader met with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II decided to name a delegate to the League of Arab States, a political, economic and military alliance instituted in Cairo in 1945.
On Feb. 15, 2006, Benedict XVI named British Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, previously president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, as apostolic nuncio in Egypt and the Holy See's delegate to the League of Arab States.
Code: ZE07051609
Date: 2007-05-16
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16.05.2007, [19:36] // Interreligious relations //
Kyiv – The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations opposes the idea of homosexual “marriages.” This and other items were discussed at the council’s regular meeting on 15 May 2007.
The council adopted the declaration “On a negative attitude to homosexual marriages and attempts to legalize them (registration of homosexual partnerships).” It also decided to send an address to the Polish government in support of its decision to prepare a declaration regarding the attitude of churches and religious organizations to the issue of abortion.
In addition, it was decided to create a work group of the council on the restitution of religious property. The main objective of the group is to generalize information on property expropriated from churches and religious organizations, develop proposals and changes to legislation and other normative acts in order to improve the mechanism of property restitution, coordinate the positions of the denominations, help in the solution of specific problems, and cooperate with state structures, in particular with the Committee on the Restitution of Property to Religious Organizations at Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.
In addition to religious leaders who are members of the council, numerous political representatives attended the meeting.
Source: Institute of Religious Freedom