Quotes and news

During an Independence Day speech, Venezuela President Hugo Chávez turned to Papal nuncio Archbishop Pietro Parolin and denounced Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas as a "troglodyte" who is "unworthy of calling himself cardinal". He continued: "Please tell (His) Holiness that as long as we have these bishops we will be far away from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church."

Chavez said he is a Catholic "and I feel sorrow when the cardinal... tries to scare people about communism. We do not deserve such a cardinal. Our people deserve another cardinal. These people are Christian and he (Mgr Urosa Savino) is unworthy of being called cardinal."

New Vatican rules for abuse cases?

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will soon publish new rules regarding the handling of sex-abuse cases, writes John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter. Allen described his sources as "informed Vatican officials".

The rules will extend the statute of limitations for such cases, and define child pornography as a 'grave offence' that require disciplinary handling by the Congregation.

Bishops condemn new abortion law

The Bishops of Spain condemned a new law that declares abortion a woman's right and permits abortion on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The bishops said the law "considers the elimination of life of those who are going to be born as a right of the expectant mother during the first 14 weeks of the pregnancy, leaving practically without any protection whatsoever these human lives, precisely at the stage when the great majority of abortions are carried out".

The bishops also noted that the law "establishes such an ambiguous concept of health that is equivalent to the introduction of the so-called social and eugenic indications as the legal justification of abortion" and "imposes on the compulsory educational system the ideology of abortion and 'gender'".

Pope's visit to UK officially confirmed

The Vatican confirmed earlier last week that Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK, where he will meet Queen Elizabeth II and beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman.

During his four-day visit during September 16-19, the Pope will be welcomed by Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, the queen's official residence in Scotland.

The Pope will preside over an outdoor Mass in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow and will meet political, cultural and business leaders in Westminster Hall in London. He will preside at the beatification ceremony of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park, Birmingham. It will be the first beatification he has carried out as Pope.

Meanwhile, Chris Patten, the British government's special representative for the September papal visit, is urging anti-papal protestors to show restraint.

"It would be an extraordinary irony if those who polemicise past intolerance by churches are to become themselves the proponents of intolerance towards churches," he said.