NEWS FROM THE WORLD
The world is calling for peace
No more war!
‘The only war which we should pursue is the war against the evil’ – pope Francis wrote in his Twitter profile at the peak torque of tension in relation to the situation in Syria. The Holy Father, and Catholic hierarchs all over the world and leaders of other Christian religions did not stop praying and appealing for peace. Also the Vatican diplomacy. ‘No initiatives of the Holy See for the sake of peace has not emotionally agitated among initiatives taken up in the last decades, as much as the one, of hearts of a lot of people all over the world, regardless of religious and ideological differences’ – noted the Vatican journal ‘L’Osservatore Romano’.
The second week of September, after two weeks of menacing announcements, finally brought hope for resolving the military intervention threat, first of all, of the USA. Diplomats presented their idea to establish the international control on the Syrian arsenal of chemical weapon. Russia became engaged in this issue, and the idea was accepted by the representative of Syria. The American president, although he did not exclude the usage of force, he said that he still gives time for solving this situation.
People were praying for peace everywhere. The prayer of the Syrians was very touching. In Damascus over a thousand Christians responded to the appeal of pope Francis. The patriarch Gregory III Laham spoke to young people in the temple in a special way, asking them not to leave the country. - Stay here. Let's stay in Syria, let's stay together, the Christians and the Muslims – the Melkite patriarch appealed.
Egypt
A cloister of St. Catherine on the verge of annihilation
The Egyptian authorities gave an order to close down the Orthodox cloister of St. Catherine on Sinai permanently, explaining it with the reason for safety. It creates a risk of a humanitarian catastrophe, because nearly a few thousand inhabitants of local towns - the Bedouins have been related to the monastery for decades, who had their living thanks to pilgrims and tourists arriving here, and working as guides and owners of shops and cafes. Among formal and direct reasons of the current diocese, the authorities in Cairo mention an attempt of abducting a pilgrim in June this year and growing fears about a possible attacks of Islamic radicals on the cloister.
Recently one of monks from there – an elderly monk Paweł, in an interview for the Egyptian portal 'Al-Monitor' has noted that, starting with the invasion of the peninsula Sinai in 1956 and 1967 by the Israel, the cloister is being closed down for the third time now. However, the current situation is unprecedented because even at the time of the last invasion (lasted till the year 1982), the gates of the monastery remained open.
People
Cardinal Angelo Scola
The archbishop of Milan Angelo Scola shared his remarks with the local Italian journal 'Gazzetta di Mantova', on changes in the Church introduced by pope Francis. The hierarch explained that 'the most radical change is connected with the personality' of the Pope. He is related to with 'the direct witness of faith' reliable thanks to the fact that he is personally engaged in what he says about. His gestures express faith, 'becoming the very teaching'.
The cardinal revealed the fact that many priests record the increase in number of confessions during the current pontificate, and greater desire to follow this Pope. The prayer vigil in the intention of peace in Syria, organized to the call of the Holy Father in Milan was joined by 5-6 times more believers than it had been expected.
Whereas, as it concerns less visible aspects of his activity, pope Francis 'is trying for more collegiality, for example, rationalizing the organizational dimension of the Church'.- We must follow him in a humble way, because he is a gift of the Holy Spirit for all Churches' – thinks cardinal Scola.
Initiative
10 minutes for us and the whole world!
On 28 September, at 3 p. m. - the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in the streets of the world cities!
The prayer in the streets of cities is an initiative which appeared after the beatification of Fr. Michał Sopoćko, a confessor and a follower of St. Faustine's mission, which took place on 28 September 2008 in Białystok.
Through this prayer we can give a testimony of great power of the Divine Mercy. It is good enough to find one's place at the crossroads and be in a spiritual relation with others, say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy individually or in a group.
More information on the website 'A spark of Divine Mercy'” www.iskrainfor.pl
Briefly
• Report on the situation in Syria was presented by the Commission of the United Nations Organization for War Crimes. It stated that crimes are being done by the both parties of the conflict.
• Baszszar al-Asad – the president of Syria denied in the talk with the American television CBS that it was him who had made the decision about the usage of the chemical weapon. He added that there was a lack of necessary evidence for the fact that such an attack took place in Syria.
• Angela Merkel – a chancellor of Germany excluded definitely the participation of her country in the possible military operation in Syria, even in the case is the United Nations Organization or another international organization had gave a consent to this action.
• Every five seconds in the world, a child dies who could be saved with the easiest methods, and about a million babies die before the next day after their births – according to the report of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
• Wołodymyr Rybak – the representative of the Supreme Council of Ukraine informed that in October 2013 Ukraine will meet condition necessary to sign an associative contract with the European Union, including setting free Julia Tymoszenko. S
• In Norway the leftist party lost the power. The Conservative Party is going to constitute the government.
• The International Olympic Committee elected a host of summer Olympic games in 2020. In the final of the competition, there was Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul. The delegates of the International Olympic Committee elected Tokyo.
• Italian Capuchins are striving for granting the Holy Father Pio the title of the PhD of the Church. This title nearly 33 Saints have received till now. 17 other Saints are waiting. However, the provincial Fr. Francesco Colacelli is optimistic especially that the popularity of St. Father Pio is not weakening. This year another increase of inflow of pilgrims to San Giovanni Rotondo has been noted.
The informative websites were prepared in the basis of reports of correspondents, news of the Vatican Radio, Catholic Informative Agency and The Bishops' Polish Episcopal Conference
(AA)
"Niedziela" 38/2013