Quotes and news

Lesley-Anne Knight, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, said EU agricultural subsidies have helped contribute to poverty in the developing world.

She was echoing comments made by Bishop Ignatius Chama of Mpika, Zambia, at the Synod of Bishops for Africa that was held in 2009.

He had said agricultural products subsidised by the EU were curtailing free competition in Third World countries.

Knight called for a global, democratic and green economy with human and environmental sustainability at its heart.

Pakistani Christian minister threatened

Shabhaz Bhatti, who is a Christian and the minister for minorities in the Pakistani government, said that despite the great number of threats he continuously received he is determined to keep on protecting religious freedom and minority rights.

In an interview with Fides, the Vatican’s missionary news service, he said he hoped the anti-blasphemy law, which make insulting the Quran an offence punishable by life in prison or death, would be abolished.

Bhatti said President Asif Ali Zardari was showing care and sensitivity toward minority issues and had set up a commission to re-examine the blasphemy law and possibly end it.

Swiss bishops defend public display of crucifix

Switzerland’s bishops have defended the display of crucifixes in public places.

They said religious liberty includes “the right to give witness and to live one’s faith publicly through visible signs”.

They added that the removal of crucifixes is a sign of intolerance.

The bishops criticised the hostility against the display of religious signs and the tendency to relegate religion to the private sphere.

They said that the majority of people favour the public display of Christian symbols.

Irish archbishop apologises for paedophile ex-priest

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin acknowledged that there were cases where the archdiocese failed children who were being abused.

He was commenting after an ex-priest, Tony Walsh, was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty on sex abuse charges.

Mgr Martin said he “unreservedly apologise(s) to the victims of this man for what they endured and for the way in which the diocese failed them”.

He said the number of children abused by the former priest were truly shocking.

Chinese bishops being treated like criminals

The Chinese government’s heavy-handed treatment of Catholic bishops and priests has been condemned by Fr Bernardo Cervellera, director of the Asia News service.

Clerics are being hunted down like criminals, he reports, as the government prepares for the election of a new head of the Catholic Patriotic Association.

Following its familiar pattern, the Beijing regime is rounding up dissidents as it prepares to stage a major propaganda event.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)