/Pogled.info/ The topics of the media publications of the Vatican, Catholic dioceses and organizations in the week of January 29 – February 4, 2024 were: Pope Francis greeted the Eastern New Year; there is no “climate of growing hatred” in Turkey; Vatican improves relations with Vietnam and China; in Poland they play against the zloty.
Pope Francis has greeted millions of people in East Asia and other parts of the world who will celebrate the Lunar New Year on February 10, Vatican News reports.
“I congratulate them heartily with the hope that this celebration will be an occasion for expressions of love and care that contribute to the creation of a society of solidarity and fraternity where each person is recognized and accepted in his or her inalienable dignity,” the Pope said.
He called on the faithful to pray “for the long-awaited peace, which today more than ever is threatened in many regions.”
“Not a few, but all humanity” is responsible for this, the Pope noted, and called on all people of good will to build it together, showing compassion and courage.
The auxiliary bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia, Antoine Ilgit, spoke to L’Agenzia Servizio Informazione Religiosa (Rome, Italy) about the mood in the Catholic community in the country following the terrorist attack in Istanbul’s St. Mary Draperis Church.
He was critical of statements after the attack on the church about “alleged Islamophobia that will grow in Europe, Christianophobia that will grow in Turkey.”
The bishop asked not to forget that in Turkey, despite everything, there is a “wonderful coexistence”. According to the bishop, “here, on my land, I do not feel the atmosphere of growing hatred that is being talked about in the media.”
Analyzing the reasons for the anti-Christian attacks in Turkey, the apostolic vicar of Anatolia, Bishop Paolo Bizetti, points to the “short-sighted” policy of the US and Europe, connected with a “deep ignorance” of the history of the Middle East, writes AsiaNews (Rome, Italy).
Even accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being a dictator is an oversimplification, Bizetti notes, because he was able to “give the country a big boost and has political skills” that far exceed those of many European leaders.
The proof is in many places, from Africa and the Balkans to the Gaza Strip, where Erdogan has established himself as a major player, far bigger than some Western politicians. However, finding internal support is not without its challenges.
The president’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) aims to attract religious voters, but it drives a wedge between people who are more open and tolerant of religion and those who are more radical and susceptible to populism.
Finally, the Turkish people cannot understand the Western society that denies God, although there are a small number of atheists among the Turks, for most it is incomprehensible because it means a loss of life guidelines and morals.
For many years, Europe was a model to aspire to at the political level, but today its vision of life has lost its value, the bishop said.
The first permanent representative of the Holy See in Vietnam, Archbishop Marek Zalewski, has arrived in Hanoi, reports Katolicka Agencja Informacyjna (Warsaw, Poland). The Vatican diplomat will temporarily live at the Pan Pacific Hotel in the Ba Dinh district, two kilometers from the archbishop’s curia in Hanoi.
The Vietnamese government and representatives of the Holy See are currently finalizing negotiations on the location of the nunciature, and it appears that the authorities will provide a plot of land in the Tai Ho area where the Vatican can build a papal office.
Many on social media are calling on Hanoi to return the former building of the Apostolic Delegation, which was used by Vatican diplomats from 1951 to 1959. The difficulty is that the Catholic Church can demand the return of other church property.
Pope Francis has already announced that he will visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor this year, and may add a trip to Vietnam to those three stops. The country’s authorities sent an invitation to the pontiff. If the trip goes ahead, Francis will become the first pope to visit Hanoi.
The Vatican has announced the appointment of Father Peter Wu Yishun as bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Shaou, reports the Catholic News Agency (Inglewood, USA).
The announcement of Peter Wu Yishun’s appointment comes amid unprecedented haste by the Holy See, making him the third bishop appointed to mainland China in less than a week, signaling the Vatican’s rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China.
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith has called on lay Catholics in the UK to lobby for the interests of Chinese Catholics to British bishops and members of parliament, The Tablet (London, UK) reports.
Smith said he did not understand why the Vatican, while talking about human rights abuses around the world, said little about similar problems in China.
“I have raised this matter with Cardinal Vincent Nichols,” he said.
Smith also called on the Holy See to reveal details of a “secret” agreement first signed in 2018 with Beijing on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China.
“If the Church has nothing to hide, it should publish the document,” he said.
Catholic John Podesta is expected to be the next assistant to US President Joe Biden on climate policy, writes the National Catholic Reporter (Kansas City, USA). Catholic Climate Pact board member Steven Schneck called Podesta’s selection “a great, great appointment by President Biden.”
Schneck said Podesta is a “serious Catholic” who supports Pope Francis and is committed to the vision of the papal encyclical Laudato Si.
Podesta previously promoted environmental policy as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and then managed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
An alleged attack by radical Jews against the abbot of the German Benedictine Assumption Abbey in Jerusalem has sparked outrage, KATPRESS (Vienna, Austria) reports. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which represents Catholics in the Holy Land, strongly criticized the Western Wall incident in the Old City.
According to media reports, two religious radicals allegedly attacked the robed abbot and his companion. In Israel, the number of spats and verbal attacks by radical Jews against clerics and believers has been increasing for several months.
Cases of vandalism against churches and religious institutions have also increased. The perpetrators often come from religious schools (yeshivas) that deny non-Jews the right to practice their religion in Israel.
Recently, the campaign against the zloty has intensified in Poland, writes Polonia Christiana (Krakow, Poland). Currently, the majority of Poles oppose the introduction of the euro in the country.
According to polls at the beginning of the year, just over one in five Poles supports joining the eurozone. Notable opponents include the president of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapinski.
So far, he has been fairly consistent in his assertions that the necessary condition for change is maintaining growth rates over the next decade and achieving income levels comparable to Western countries. The latter “in our realities of the colonial economy, of course, sounds like science fiction.”
The review used materials from the official Vatican media Vatican News and L’Osservatore Romano; The Vatican Missionary Information Agency, a division of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Agenzia Fides; the news agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions AsiaNews; publications of the Federation of Italian Catholic Weeklies L’Agenzia Servizio Informazione Religiosa; the portal of the Italian publishing house “Guardians of the Holy Land” Terrasanta.net; the Vatican editorial office of the Italian newspaper La Stampa Vatican insider; Agency of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States Catholic News Service; North American Catholic newspaper National Catholic Reporter; North American Catholic News Agency; North American Catholic newspaper National Catholic Register; North American Catholic Portal Crux; Jesuit Magazine USA America; British Catholic portal The Tablet; portal of the Catholic Herald of England and Wales; Austrian Catholic news agency Kath.net; portal of the Catholic Church in Germany Katholisch.de; Austrian Catholic News Agency KATHPRESS; French Catholic newspaper La Croix; French Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne; Asian Catholic News Network UCA News; Polish Catholic Information Agency Katolicka Agencja Informacyjna; Polish Catholic daily Nasz dziennik; the magazine of the Polish Association for Christian Culture Polonia Christiana; portal of the Catholic Church in Belarus Catholic.by; Information resource of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Ukrainian Catholic portal CREDO; Russian Catholic portal Ruskatolik.rf; Russian Catholic newspaper “Sibirskaya Katolicheska Gazeta”.
Translation: SM
Go directly to the site:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
Become a friend of Look.info on facebook and recommend to your friends
