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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Concludes Conference on Climate Change

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican official warned against idolizing the environment and losing sight of the dignity of the human person, in the wake of a conference on climate change and development.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said this Friday, at the end of the dicastery's two-day conference.

It brought together some 80 experts and focused on various aspects of climate change and the development of peoples.

"Nature is for the human person and the human person is for God," Cardinal Martino said. "In considering the problems associated with climate change, one must look to the social doctrine of the Church," which "neither supports the absolutization of nature, nor the reduction of nature to a mere instrument."

"Nature is not an absolute, but a wealth that is placed in the person's responsible and prudent hands," he added.

Indisputable superiority

The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace explained that the human person cannot be placed on an equal plane with other creatures.

"The person has an indisputable superiority over creation and, in virtue of his personhood and being gifted with an immortal soul, cannot be placed on an equal plane with other living beings, nor can he be considered a disturbing element in the natural ecological equilibrium," the 74-year-old cardinal said.

He continued: "The person does not have an absolute right over nature but rather a mandate to conserve and develop it in light of the universal destination of the earth's goods which is one of the fundamental principles of the social doctrine of the Church."

Losing sight

The president of the Vatican dicastery noted the problems associated with climate change, and said that "the social doctrine of the Church must deal with the many modern forms of idolatry of nature that lose sight of the person."

"Similar views of ecology emerge in the debate on demographic problems and on the relationship between peoples, environment and development," he added.

Cardinal Martino recalled the 1994 international conference in Cairo on population and development.

There, "the Holy See had to oppose, together with many Third World countries, the idea that the increase in population in the coming decades would cause the collapse of the earth's natural balances and would impede development," he said.

Refuted

"These theses have been refuted and, thank goodness, are in regression," said the cardinal. He explained that the proposed solutions for these erroneous ideas were abortion and mass sterilization of the poor.

"The Church proposes a realistic view of things. She has faith in the person and in his ability to look for new solutions to the problems that history places before him -- an ability that enables him to refute recurring and improbable catastrophic forecasts," he added.

The cardinal recalled that "according to the concept of human ecology developed by Pope John Paul II, ecology is not only a natural emergency, but an anthropological emergency, in which what is valued is man's relationship with himself and above all his relationship with God."

"An anthropological error is therefore a theological error," underlined Cardinal Martino. "When the person wants to take God's place, he loses sight of himself and his responsibility to govern nature."

Code: ZE07043005

Date: 2007-04-30

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will pray during May that Christians allow themselves to be guided by the Word of God.

The Apostleship of Prayer announced the general intention chosen by the Pope: "That, following the example of the Virgin Mary, all Christians should allow themselves to be guided by the Word of God and always remain attentive to the signs of the Lord in his own life."

The Holy Father also chooses an apostolic intention for each month. In May, he will pray that "in mission territories there may be no lack of good and enlightened teachers in the major seminaries and in the institutes of consecrated life."

Code: ZE07043006

Date: 2007-04-30

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI spoke with a leader of Andorra about further consolidating relations between the Holy See and that tiny principality situated between France and Spain.

The Pope met with Albert Pintat Santolaria, president of the executive council of Andorra, today.

"The principal topic of the cordial discussions was the current relations between the Catholic Church and the Principality of Andorra, and the possibility of consolidating them further," the Vatican press office reported. "Opinions were also exchanged on the problems of young people and of education, and on questions concerning the situation in Europe."

After his audience with the Pope, the president met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Some 90% of Andorra's 71,000 inhabitants are Catholic. In 1993, Andorra was formed as a parliamentary democracy that retains as its chiefs of state a co-principality. The two princes are the president of France and bishop of Urgel, Spain, who are represented locally by co-princes' representatives.

Code: ZE07043007

Date: 2007-04-30

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Urges Them to Foster Unity in Their Countries

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI participated in the extraordinary synod of the Syro-Catholic bishops, asking them to be an example of unity in the situations of violence and division in which they live.

This Syro-Catholic Church, united with Rome since 1662, is principally present in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, though members are found all over the world, particularly in the United States.

After his address at the synod on Saturday, the Pope lunched with the participants, including Patriarch Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad of Antioch. On hand were also 13 bishops who represent the 150,000 Syro-Catholic faithful around the world.

The synod, which took place in the Vatican last Thursday to Saturday, was presided over by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in the Holy Father's name.

In his remarks to the synod, the Holy Father said he wanted to gather them in Rome to "strengthen even more the bonds that have existed for centuries that unite your Church to the Apostolic See and, at the same time, to show you the esteem and solicitude that the Bishop of Rome has for each one of you, pastors of a part of God's people that is not numerous but is very ancient and meaningful."

Benedict XVI added: "In today's world, there are many challenges that Christian communities must face in every part of the world, while many dangers and traps risk clouding the values of the Gospel.

"In regard to your Church, the violence and conflicts that afflict a part of your flock are additional difficulties that endanger peaceful coexistence and peoples' lives."

Code: ZE07043003

Date: 2007-04-30

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

2007-04-28 - Interfax - The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) has held its final meeting before the Act of Canonical Communion will be in Moscow on May 17. What were the meeting’s results? Has the Church Outside of Russia changed her attitude to the Moscow Patriarchate’s involvement in the WCC? With what feelings the church delegation from outside of Russia prepares its Moscow visit? The secretary of the ROCOR commission for negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Alexander Lebedev answers these and other questions in his interview to Interfax-Religion.

Click here to read the story at Interfax's website.

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Kiev, April 23, Interfax - Cardinal Lubomir Husar, leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, has announced his intention to establish new Uniate dioceses in Eastern Ukraine.

‘We are discovering more people than we thought. Even in Kiev there are more Greek Catholics than we hoped to find. As people have become estranged from traditions, they have to be found and awakened’, Cardinal Husar said in a interview to the Ukrainian Focus magazine, commenting on the intention of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church to open new dioceses.

It is through the efforts of ‘young, energetic and more emotional’ priests that the Greek-Catholic clergy in Ukraine ‘are stimulating’ people to accept the Uniate preaching, he said.

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