Quotes and news

Pope Benedict XVI next month will be sending a pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland. The Pope is expected to show his sense of outrage, betrayal and shame over cases of clerical sexual abuse and the way abuse claims were handled by church leaders.

A recently published report showed both the extent of this abuse and of the cover-up by Church leaders, including bishops. The pastoral letter will outline several initiatives, including public services of repentance for Irish bishops and priests.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said that it would be the beginning of a whole process aimed at "a very significant reorganisation of the Church in Ireland".

Christians urged to oppose secularism

Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion proposed a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed, in effect, at saving Europe's soul from "Western post-Christian humanism". He made this proposal in his introduction to the Russian edition of a book of speeches by Pope Benedict XVI on Europe's spiritual crisis.

Mgr Hilarion warned that religion was being closed off in the "ghetto" of private devotion, and urged Christians to confront their governments on issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage - even to the point of civil disobedience.

Ecology's moral dimension

The United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, should emphasise "human beings, local populations, poor and vulnerable countries" said Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's nuncio to the UN. He added that it should not be just about "targets, indicators, figures and planning".

In a Catholic News Service interview Mgr Migliore said he was confident the summit would "reach a political consensus to produce within a reasonable amount of time a binding agreement on emission-cuts, targets and financing for adaptation and mitigation, especially in poor and more vulnerable countries".

Just laws protect human life

A law is just only if it protects human life, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The only laws that can be considered just "are those laws that safeguard the sacredness of human life and reject the acceptance of abortion, euthanasia and unrestrained genetic experiments (and) those laws that respect the dignity of marriage between one man and one woman," the Pope said.

Pope Benedict said just laws must respect the separation between Church and State in a way that protects religious freedom, must allow local issues to be handled locally, and must promote solidarity with the poor "on a national and international level".

Decline in priestly vocations

The number of German seminarians has decreased by 25 per cent over five years ago. "Vocations are affected by the same factors here as in other Western countries," said Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the German Bishops' Conference.