Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem said a truce “will not help if the conditions in Gaza remain those of a land under siege, where fear and frustration feed hatred.
“If you put an end to this siege and allow freedom of movement of people and goods, free fishing in the sea in front of Gaza, then no one will need to dig tunnels,” he added.
He said the Israeli blockade of Gaza has turned the region into a “factory of desperate people”.
The Patriarch thanked those who sent letters of support and solidarity but added that “perhaps there is too little compassion and practical help”. He lamented that they are getting too little concrete and effective support from the outside.
Cardinal visits Iraq’s persecuted Christians
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, together with two other French bishops, went to Iraq to meet and offer support to Christians who are being persecuted in the country. Christians in Mosul have been forced to leave their homes.
The cardinal promised he will every day recite the Our Father in Aramaic, the language used in the liturgy by the Syriac Christians of Mosul.
Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic church, thanked the cardinal for his important visit as now Iraqi Christians “can see that there is physically someone thinking of them”.
Young Irish priests are wary of Pope Francis
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told an audience in Melbourne that young Irish priests with “a conformist and closed Catholicism” are wary about Pope Francis.
Mgr Martin warned conservative and progressive Catholics against becoming “closed in” within our own ideas. He also acknowledged that Irish Catholicism had a strong tradition of strict teaching.
Fr Seamus Ahearne of the Association of Catholic Priests said the archbishop’s words were “apt” as young Irish priests embrace a very traditionalist view of Church. He added that the way they dressed and celebrate Mass show how much they were “so locked into a past model of priesthood”’.
Under 11% of German Catholics go to Mass
Only just under 11 per cent of German Catholics go to Mass on Sunday. This information was given by the German Bishops’ Conference. Mass attendance is today half it was in 1989.
It was also announced that nearly 179,000 Catholics officially left the Church in 2013. A year before, the number of those who left the Church was 118,000.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann said it was obvious that the Church in Germany suffered a great loss of trust and credibility.
“The Church isn’t just another club, and all efforts must now be made to prevent more scandals through repentance and renewal.”
Allowing Anglicans to receive Communion
Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, co-chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission said he foresaw the possibility of wider sharing of Communion between Catholics and Anglicans. He stressed that he was expressing his personal opinion.
He said the inability of Catholics and Anglicans to share in Communion causes a “pain” that ecumenical work strives to resolve. He said that according to the 1992 Ecumenical Directory, Anglicans may receive Communion in extraordinary circumstances. He said these conditions could be increased so that they could receive communion in the Catholic Church more often.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)