Quotes and news

"Useless loss of life" and "a very painful event" were among the words used by the Vatican's statement deploring Israel's assault on a flotilla of ships taking aid to the Gaza Strip. Israeli commandos raided the ship while it was in international waters.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said: "This is a very painful event, particularly for the useless loss of human life. The situation is being followed in the Vatican with great attention and concern."

The flotilla was made of eight ships which were carrying building materials, medicines and other aid materials. This was an attempt to try to breach the three-year-old blockade of Gaza enforced by the Israeli military.

Pope praises Fr Matteo Ricci

Pope Benedict XVI praised an Italian Jesuit missionary for his unique and effective evangelisation in 16th-century China and for opening dialogue between China and the west.

Pope Benedict said the Jesuit was able to win the hearts and minds of his Chinese hosts by throwing himself into their culture with respect and openness.

Fr Ricci, who came from Macerata in central Italy, represented "the fortunate synthesis of proclaiming the Gospel and of dialogue with the culture of the people who are receiving it, an example of balance between doctrinal clarity and prudent pastoral action", the Pope said.

Crisis in Madagascar

"Insecurity reigns everywhere, families are divided, unemployment rises, political differences cause disorder, drugs of all kinds are spread everywhere," the bishops of Madagascar wrote in a recent pastoral letter on the crisis that has gripped the island nation for the past year.

"Some media deviate from their calling to inform, stoking passions that could trigger a civil war. The army, the last bastion of the nation, has been strained in recent times."

"International mediation is needed," they add, "but we can all see that it has strong limitations, because we Malagasy are causing the problem and only we can find the real solution."

Nearly a third of the nation's 19.5 million people are Catholic.

10 EU states defend Crucifix

Ten of Europe's 47 states have joined Italy in petitioning the European Court of Human Rights to overturn its decision in the Lautsi case, in which the court ruled that the display of a crucifix in a classroom is "contrary to parents' right to educate their children in line with their convictions and to children's right to freedom of religion". No European state intends to file a brief in support of the decision.

In addition to Italy, the 10 nations that oppose the court's decision are Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Romania, the Russian Federation, and San Marino.

More martyrs in 2009

Thirty-seven Catholic priests, religious, seminarians, and lay catechists were killed on pastoral assignments in 2009: the highest number in the past 10 years.

The Fides news service provided an account of all Church workers who died violently last year: 30 priests, two nuns, two seminarians, and three lay volunteers.

The list includes Church personnel who died in the course of other criminal activities, such as apparent robbery attempts, as well as those who were killed out of hatred for the faith.

Most of the victims - 23 of the 37 - were killed in the Western Hemisphere.

Compiled by Fr Joe Borg