Quotes and news

“Religiously motivated terrorism” was condemned by Pope Benedict during his annual speech to diplomats accredited to the Vatican. He also strongly condemned the restrictions on religious freedom in several parts of the world.

He paid tribute to Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic and government minister for minorities in Pakistan, “whose untiring battle for the rights of minorities ended in his tragic death” when he was murdered last March.

“Sadly, we are not speaking of an isolated case,” the Pope said, while noting that “in many countries, Christians are deprived of fundamental rights and sidelined from public life; in other countries they endure violent attacks against their churches and homes.” He explicitly mentioned the Christmas Day attacks against churches in Nigeria.

“In other parts of the world,” he said, “we see policies aimed at marginalising the role of religion in the life of society, as if it were a cause of intolerance rather than a valued contribution to education in respect for human dignity, justice and peace.”

Cardinals’ biographies copied from Wikipedia

It has been revealed that the first biographical notes of the 22 new cardinals were copied from Wikipedia without attribution. The gaffe was admitted by the director of the Vatican press office Fr Federico Lombardi, who said it was a mistake.

To make matters worse, the bio­graphies, which were posted on the Vatican’s website, described some of the cardinals as conservative.

The Vatican later on posted proper biographical notes.

New Norwegian Bible becomes a bestseller

The new translation of the Bible in Norwegian has been a great success, with readers queueing outside bookstores to buy one. The translation, the first in 30 years, has been the top bestseller since its publication in October. The translation, which according to its publisher is intended to “read like a novel”, has no chapters and verses.

The translation is the work of the Norwegian Bible Society.

Three million Filipinos join annual procession

Three million Filipinos took part in the annual procession in Manila, the Philippines, in honour of the Black Nazarene, even though there were warnings of terrorist attacks. The Black Nazarene is a 17th-century statue of Christ.

‘No real progress unless wealth spreads to poor’

Peruvian Archbishop Pedro Barreto Jimeno, who heads the social justice commission of Latin American bishops’ council, said that little progress will be made unless underlying poverty and inequality are addressed.

“The Church continues to criticise the dominant economic system,” he said, adding that Latin American bishops have for many years been calling for a new economic model based on Church social doctrine.

Crocodile meets Pope

A Cuban crocodile was present at the Pope’s general audience last week. Staff at Rome’s zoological park brought the rare live specimen of crocodile to represent the 1,200 animals that live in the park and as a sign of the park’s environmental protection and education work.

In March, the crocodile will be returned to its country of origin to coincide with Benedict’s apostolic trip to Cuba.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)