'Forgive and unite' was the message Auxiliary Bishop Bosco Penha of Mumbai addressed to Catholics and people of other religions. After condemning the "dastardly act of terrorism", Bishop Penha urged Catholics "to pray and get involved in building bridges" among people of all religions and to "spread peace, harmony and brotherhood". Pope Benedict XVI condemned the terrorist attacks in India as acts of "cruel and senseless violence", and led prayers for the nearly 200 people who died and the hundreds who were injured.
Pro-Obama vote not a sin
U.S. bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton said Catholics who voted for Obama were not obliged to go to confession. He was answering Fr Joseph Illo, a parish priest in Modesto, who exhorted parishioners to go to confession if they voted for Obama, who supports legalised abortion. Mgr Blaire said, "requiring all Catholics who voted for a candidate with a pro-abortion record to go to confession is not in accord with the moral guidelines" of US bishops. He said "determining the moral culpability of an individual Catholic who votes for a candidate with a pro-abortion record is a very complicated matter".
Without ethics, catastrophe
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio to the UN, in line with other Church leaders, warned that without an ethical approach, the financial problems facing the world could become a catastrophe. He told Vatican Radio "it is necessary to recover some basic aspects of finances, such as the primacy of labour over capital, of human relationships over purely financial transactions, and of ethics over the sole criterion of efficiency".
Nigerian violence mainly political
The violence in the city of Jos, Nigeria, that left at least 200 dead was presented by some media as religious violence. But Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja told Vatican Radio that political problems were the main cause of the clash between Christian and Muslim gangs. During the riots, churches and mosques were burnt, and many people were attacked and killed. The archbishop added that, when it suits them, "politicians in Nigeria try to exploit religion in support of their ways of doing things".
No gay jokes, please
"Remember that homophobic jokes and asides can be cruel and hurtful - a careless word can mean another experience of rejection and pain." This directive was given to English Catholic priests in a leaflet produced by the Marriage and Family Life project of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. The bishops asked priests to be more welcoming to gays and to "express appreciation for the gifts that homosexual Catholics bring to their faith community". Gay activists welcomed the bishops' initiative, calling it a big improvement on some Catholic pronouncements on homosexuality.
Compiled by Fr Joe Borg