Pope Benedict XVI plans to celebrate the Year of Faith by publishing a new encyclical letter about faith. This will probably be released in the first half of 2013.

This will be the fourth encyclical of the present Pope. The encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) was published in 2009.

In 2007 an encyclical letter on hope, Spe Salvi, was published, while Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) was released in 2006. An encyclical on faith would complete a cycle on the theological virtues.

Informed sources said that the Pope worked on the encyclical and finished it during his summer stay at Castel Gandolfo.

High expectations of new Vienna centre

“We are being watched,” said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, during the opening ceremony of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna, Austria. He said everyone is expecting “honesty, vision and credibility” from the Saudi King’s initiative, which is supported by the governments of Austria and Spain and assisted by the Holy See.

Cardinal Tauran said the initiative “presents another opportunity for open dialogue on many issues, including those related to fundamental human rights, in particular religious freedom in all its aspects, for everybody, for every community, everywhere”. He observed that participants in the KAICIID’s activities should “understand that the Holy See is particularly attentive to the fate of Christian communities in countries where such a freedom is not adequately guaranteed”.

African bishops slam violence in Congo

The presidents of bishops’ conferences in Africa have expressed their outrage and shock at the escalating armed violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is again causing a major human tragedy.

The bishops said “thousands of men, women and children, the victims of this war which is imposed on them, are displaced and abandoned in destitution in Goma and its surroundings”.

They said the people are being exposed to “the bad weather, hunger, rape and all kinds of abuses, including recruiting of children into the army. This constitutes an offence to their dignity as human beings and children of God.

“The perpetrators of such violence and destruction should be brought to justice,” the bishops added, as they called upon the international community to intervene.

Little change for the Church in China

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples said the recent changes in the highest leadership positions in China do not promise change for the better for the Catholic Church.

“I don’t think there will be a big change in the immediate future for the religious policy in China. It’s not one of the immediate priorities of the new Government. They have many other things to take care of,” said Mgr Hon Tai-Fai.

He explained that since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution in China, people have been able to freely worship. The problem, he pointed out, is with “the structure and development of the Church – especially for the hierarchy – the control is too much”. The Chinese Government demands the power of approval before a bishop can be appointed by the Vatican.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.