Quotes and news

Bishop Philip Tartaglia has written to British Prime Minister David Cameron that the Catholic Church will never "register civil partnerships" or "celebrate same-sex unions". The Bishop of Paisley in Scotland was reacting to the comments Mr Cameron made at a gay pride event.

The Prime Minister had said "that if religious organisations, if churches, if mosques, if temples want to have civil partnerships celebrated at religious places of worship, that should be able to happen and we should make that happen".

Mgr Tartaglia advised Mr Cameron that "the Catholic Church will not register civil partnerships nor celebrate same-sex unions: not now, not in the future, not ever, no matter what legislation or regulations your government enacts or endorses".

Dog given communion

A dog has received communion at an Anglican parish in Toronto. Donald Keith, the dog's owner, said that the minister welcomed him and his dog in church and gave communion to both.

Following a parishioner's complaint, the local Anglican bishop decided that the dog would not receive communion again, though he will continue to be welcome at church. Reports from members of the parish say that backlash against this act came from just one person.

Pope starts Jesus of Nazareth vol III

Pope Benedict XVI is dedicating his holiday to writing the third and final volume in his series on the life of Jesus, which will cover his infancy and childhood.

He started writing the first volume of the work, entitled Jesus of Nazareth, during his summer vacation in 2003, two years before he was elected Pope. After his election, the Pope said in that volume's preface that he used all of his free time to complete the book, which was published in the spring of 2007 and covered Jesus' life from his baptism to his transfiguration.

The Pope handed his editors the final draft of the second volume of his book last May.

More Vatican euros in circulation

While the Vatican City is one of the countries that has adopted the euro it had, up until now, sold most of the coins it minted to collectors. Following an agreement signed with the European Commission the Vatican has begun to put some of its coins into public circulation.

However, only storekeepers within the walls of the Vatican City are distributing the coins showing the image of Pope Benedict.

Under the terms of last year's agreement, the Vatican will be authorised to mint coins worth up to €2.3 million with the proviso that nearly half of the coins are put into public circulation.

Chinese bishop's release praised

Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has sent a message to Bishop Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding, a 75-year-old bishop faithful to the Holy See, who was released from detention on July 8. Mgr Jia, whose ministry is not recognised by the Chinese government, has been arrested 13 times since 2004 and had previously been imprisoned for 18 years.

"With great joy I received the news that you have returned to your diocese," Mgr Dias wrote. "This news makes me very happy. The Pope sends a special apostolic blessing to you and to all your faithful."

Compiled by Fr Joe Borg