During his general audience on March 29 Pope Francis said: “The God who reveals Himself to Abraham is the God who saves, the God who brings us out from desperation and from death, the God who calls to life.
“Are we convinced that God wishes us well and that all He promised us is able to bring it to fruition? Open your heart to faith and He will do the rest.”
EU bishops’ four proposals on VAT
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (Comece) decided to participate in the ongoing debate in the EU about Value Added Tax (VAT).
There is no standard EU-wide VAT rate, which in fact ranges from 17 to 27 per cent depending on the country.
The European bishops put forward four proposals:
a) Focus on the needs of poor people by applying reduced VAT rates to essential goods and services;
b) Allow for reduced rates for childcare products to help families and single parents;
c) Acknowledge service churches provide to the common good;
d) With a view to the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, allow for reduced VAT rates for the restoration of churches and other buildings of worship.
Mexican bishop comes under fire
Bishop Ramon Castro of Cuernavaca, Mexico, is the target of severe criticism from local politicians after he charged that the administration of his state was riddled with corruption.
Bishop Castro had sought government support for the restoration of the city’s 16th-century cathedral. When he won about €4.6 million in funding, he asked that the money be routed through the city government, rather than the state of Morelos, because he said State officials had a pattern of “taking between 30 and 40 per cent for themselves”.
Local politicians attacked the bishop, accusing him of being involved in the theft of sacred art and that he had diverted church funds to his own private residence.
‘We are all brothers’
During a meeting with a group of Iraqi religious leaders who had gathered at the Vatican for a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, Pope Francis said: “We are all brothers, and where there is brotherhood there is peace.”
The Pope noted that the participants were Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims, Yazidis and Christians. He said all these trace their faith to the patriarch Abraham, so “we have a common father on earth”.
Compiled by Fr Joe Borg.