Quotes and news

A group of six US bishops said, "health care legislation must allow all legal immigrants, regardless of income level, to participate in any new health care system." Moreover, they "oppose any ban that would prevent them from participating for five years", a reference the current five-year waiting period for federal benefits.

Health care legislation, they added, "must also support the inclusion of pregnant women and children, regardless of their legal status".

The bishops based their claims on the principles of Catholic social teaching on the dignity of all human beings from conception to natural death, and the centrality of the common good.

US prelates at odds over Kennedy

US archbishop Raymond Burke said Catholic politicians who support legal abortion should not be allowed to receive Communion or to have Catholic funerals.

The archbishop, who now heads the Apostolic Signatura, explained that this disciplinary approach is not a matter of judging the individual's soul, but "a recognition of the scandal" caused by public support for abortion. He added that in order to remove that scandal, since the individual has taken a public stand in opposition to Church teaching, "his repentance must also be public".

Mgr Burke's position is in marked contrast to that of Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, who presided at the funeral of Senator Edward Kennedy, and that of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington who presided at the senator's burial.

'Keep religion classes in state schools'

Romania's Catholic Church has urged the government to keep religion classes in state schools as part of a new education law. "All this country's churches agree school religion positively influences the national character," said Romanian Catholic Bishop Virgil Bercea of Oradea. "Public opinion solidly supports the right of parents to have their children taught religion. We simply don't know why these changes were even proposed."

Pope calls 2010 synod on Middle East

Pope Benedict XVI announced he was convening a synod of bishops for the Middle East to be held in October 2010, to look at the various problems faced by the minority Christian communities in the region, from migration to inter-religious dialogue. The synod will carry the theme 'The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness; The community of believers was of one heart and mind'

Pope unaware of Holocaust denial

A Vatican spokesman said that before Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson he was not aware the bishop had expressed doubts about the Holocaust.

The Vatican made the statement in anticipation of a programme on the Swedish public television channel saying that Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm knew of Bishop Williamson's views and had informed Vatican officials, well before the Pope announced in January that he was lifting the excommunication imposed on Williamson.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, reportedly told the Swedish broadcaster that he too was aware of Bishop Williamson's extremism, and was surprised the Pope had not been forewarned.

Compiled by Fr Joe Borg