Medjugorje Restrictions Confirmed by Alleged Visionary Marija Pavlovic

UPDATE from Silvia Bergamin at Mattino Padova (Google translation):

CITTADELLA. In 600 they expected for the entire afternoon, but the Medjugorje visionary Marija Pavlovic in Cittadella has held only a handful of minutes. "My presence in Cittadella has all hell broke loose," he said the woman, "The curia of Padova has warned the organizers to let me pray with you. I decided to meet you anyway. I'm not a visionary, I am a quiet person. I will not disobey the Church, but I think that prayer does not hurt. My journey continues, I come to Medjugorje. I can not pray with you, I can not bear my testimony, but no one can stop me from praying in my heart. "
 
The words of Marija have raised more than a little disappointment among the hundreds of faithful gathered in Villa Rina to live a moment of reflection and prayer. "It's a shame," the general comment, "Why do Muslims have the right to pray at the Citadel, while Christians not?". The diocese said in a letter the reasons for no: "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith points out that, pending further provisions by the Holy See, the Christian communities - bishops, priests and faithful - are required to observe the already established by the bishops of the former Yugoslavia in the Zadar Declaration of April 10, 1991: "On the basis of investigation up till now it is not possible to say whether it's supernatural apparitions or revelations". It is therefore not allowed to the clergy and faithful of the diocese to participate in any meetings, conferences or public celebrations in which would be taken for granted as to their credibility... " (continued) 

Original post:

From Guarda Con Me:

As announced, this afternoon held a meeting in Cittadella, province of Padua, with the participation of Marija Pavlovic, visionary of Medjugorje.

Organized by her friend and nurse with the support of local authorities, the intention was to offer a moment of prayer and meditation for all the loyal guests of the council chamber, made available by the town Padua.

The visionary occurred appointment but did not offer its usual testimony, pointing out instead that "I just came to say goodbye, because I had promised my friend.  I received a letter in which I was asked not to attend public meetings".

At this point, considering the information coming from Medjugorje from people you trust, we have to admit that the recent rumors regarding restrictions on the visionaries of the country of Herzegovina, are reliable:  the visionaries no longer have to appear publicly, nor to testify, nor let alone for the appearances, remaining "confined" to their homes...  (continued)

Read More Here

Links:

• Marija a Cittadella solo per salutare a conferma delle restrizioni
• Preghiere vietate alla veggente Marija 

Related:

• Vatican Remains Mum on Medjugorje: No Decision Has Been Made
• Medjugorje: Vatican Rejects the Apparitions
• Pope Francis Indicates That Seers of Medjugorje Have Psychological Problems
• Medjugorje Decision Will Take ‘Months’, says Vatican Spokesman
• Vatican Cancels Another Medjugorje Event
• Pope Dismisses 'Visions' as Medjugorje Decision Nears
• Pope Francis: Don’t live your lives according to what seers tell you
• Medjugorje Ruling - "We are about to make decisions" says Pope Francis
• Days after Medjugorje comment, Pope downplays predictable visions
• Medjugorje "visionary" Vicka flinches while in "ecstasy" (video)
• Pope Francis: "Our Lady... is not a postmaster, sending messages every day" 
• Medjugorje Warning From Archbishop Carlson
• Father George Rutler: Medjugorje cult "has become an industry from which many have made a lot of money"
• Father Mitch Pacwa: Lack of any Spiritual Depth to the Messages May be the Unraveling of Medjugorje

Pope Francis’ Climate Change Encyclical Leaked Four Days Early by Italian Magazine

The 192-page document is Pope Francis' first major teaching letter on climate change and its effects on the planet's poor

(Time) Italian Magazine L’Espresso leaked Pope Francis’ hotly anticipated encyclical on climate change on its website on Monday, breaking an embargo on the document set for Thursday.

The 192-page document is Pope Francis’ first major teaching letter on climate change and its effects on the planet’s poor. Hailed by some as the “pope of the poor,” Francis’ linkage of environmental and economic issues puts the Vatican out front on a closely watched topic.

A Vatican official told Bloomberg News that the leak was a “heinous act.”

“An Italian text of a draft of the Pope’s Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ has been published. Please note that it is not the final text, and that the rules of the Embargo remain in place,” read an official statement from the Vatican. “We ask journalists to respect professional standards, which call for waiting for the official publication of the final text.”

Link:

• Pope Francis’ Climate Change Encyclical Leaked Four Days Early by Italian Magazine

The Real Face of Santa Claus

By Ryan Scheel 

(uCatholic) ...According to scientific analysis and computer models, Saint Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra who Santa Claus is based on, would have looked a bit different than the Nordic woodsman of popular culture and more like a 4th century Byzantine Bishop.

According to The Saint Nicholas Center 

St. Nicholas’ remains are buried in the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. These bones were temporarily removed when the crypt was repaired during the 1950s. At the Vatican’s request, anatomy professor Luigi Martino from the University of Bari, took thousands of minutely-detailed measurements and x-ray photographs (roentgenography) of the skull and other bones...

Using this data, the medical artist used state-of-the-art computer software to develop the model of St. Nicholas. The virtual clay was sculpted on screen using a special tool that allows one to “feel” the clay as it is molded. Dr. Wilkinson says, “In theory you could do the same thing with real clay, but it’s much easier, far less time-consuming and more reliable to do it on a computer...”

Read More at uCatholic

Link:

• The Real Face of Santa Claus

Pope says world's many conflicts amount to piecemeal World War Three

By Stefano Rellandini

REDIPUGLIA Italy (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Saturday the spate of conflicts around the globe today were effectively a "piecemeal" Third World War, condemning the arms trade and "plotters of terrorism" sowing death and destruction.

"Humanity needs to weep and this is the time to weep," Francis said in the homily of a Mass during a visit to Italy's largest war memorial, a large, Fascist-era monument where more than 100,000 soldiers who died in World War One are buried.

The pope began his brief visit to northern Italy by first praying in a nearby, separate cemetery for some 15,000 soldiers from five nations of the Austro-Hungarian empire which were on the losing side of the Great War that broke out 100 years ago.

"War is madness," he said in his homily before the massive, sloping granite memorial, made of 22 steps on the side of hill with three crosses at the top.

"Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction," he said.

In the past few months, Francis has made repeated appeals for an end to conflicts in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Gaza and parts of Africa.

"War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying," he said. "Greed, intolerance, the lust for power. These motives underlie the decision to go to war and they are too often justified by an ideology ...," he said.

Last month the pope, who has often condemned the concept of war in God's name, said it would be legitimate for the international community to use force to stop "unjust aggression" by Islamic State militants who have killed or displaced thousands of people in Iraq and Syria, many of them Christians.

In his homily, read at a sombre service to thousands of people braving the rain and which included the hauntingly funereal sound of a solitary bugle, Francis condemned "plotters of terrorism" but did not elaborate.

Link:

• Pope says world's many conflicts amount to piecemeal World War Three

Pope Francis to Venture Into Mafia Stronghold

The funeral for a 3-year-old allegedly killed by the Mafia in January. European Pressphoto Agency

Pope to Visit Southern Italian Region of Calabria 

By Manuela Mesco and Giada Zampano

(The Wall Street Journal) When Pope Francis visits the southern region of Calabria on Saturday, he will venture into the stronghold of one of the world's biggest criminal organizations—one whose tentacles allegedly extend into local churches there, according to Italian prosecutors.

The pope will visit the small town of Cassano Jonico, where a 3-year-old child, Nicola "Coco" Campolongo, was killed along with his grandfather in January, allegedly by Calabria's Mafia, known as the 'Ndrangheta.

Born in one of Europe's poorest regions, the 'Ndrangheta has proved far harder for prosecutors to crack than the better-known Sicilian Mafia.

Tight family ties and a low profile have helped it proliferate in Italy and abroad, resulting in an estimated annual turnover of €53 billion ($72 billion), or about 3.5% of the Italian economy, according to the research firm Demoskopika.

Pope Francis has followed his predecessors in denouncing the Mafia. But his visit also throws a light on the relationship between the Catholic Church in Italy and the country's deeply rooted organized crime.

Pope Francis in Rome on Thursday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Traditionally 'Ndrangheta bosses proudly professed their Catholic faith, looking to "exploit the bond between the church and large swaths of populations in southern Italy," says Giuseppe Pignatone, a prosecutor who investigated Mafia cases in the region.

Mob bosses often requested that parish processions stop in front their homes as a way to thank them for paying for the celebrations, according to evidence gathered by magistrates for trials of alleged 'Ndrangheta members.

"For too long the church has pretended not to see, allowing Mafia affiliates to raise money, build churches, organize the processions," said Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso. "If this pope wants to turn the page he has to make a firm decision and draw a straight line. Only in this way he will keep Mafia members out of the church and will mark a real change from the past."

Calabrian bishops issued a document in April in which they condemned Mafia as a "cancer...that tramples on the highest values and the most sacred aspects of life." They also renewed the church's appeal for Mafia members to repent.

In a statement Thursday, Bishop Giuseppe Fiorini Morosini said the church should work harder to overcome the divide between faith and day-to-day behavior. "However all italian institutions should examine their consciences," he said, and not just priests who have made mistakes.

Investigations by Italian prosecutors have found that the 'Ndrangheta has over the decades infiltrated the local church and other institutions.

According to evidence presented during mob trials, 'Ndrangheta bosses gathered every Sept. 3 in a Catholic church high in the mountains, Santa Maria di Polsi, to "baptize" new members, discuss strategies and pray until at least 2009.

Nicola Gratteri, chief prosecutor in the Calabrian capital of Reggio Calabria, says he believes the meetings started during the 1890s and still occur. Images of the Madonna in the church have been found on many people arrested for 'Ndrangheta association.

Pino Strangio, who has headed the sanctuary for 15 years, says he has never seen mob bosses meeting there.

"We as the church strongly condemn the 'Ndrangheta and any other organized crime," he said. He says he was never involved in any investigation or called to testify.

Some priests have been investigated for 'Ndrangheta association. In one ongoing trial, a local prelate and police chaplain, Nuccio Cannizzaro, stands accused of making false statements and helping Mafia bosses.

Prosecutors say they have recordings of him, obtained through wiretaps, offering to use his Mafia ties to do favors for locals, such as skipping hospital waiting lists. "Nothing happened without [Father] Cannizzaro knowing," said Stefano Musolino, the prosecutor on the case.

Father Cannizzaro denies the allegations, his lawyer said, and says that they are based on a misunderstanding. When the priest was indicted, local residents staged angry protests. A verdict could arrive next month.

Another priest, Salvatore Santaguida, is under investigation in a separate case for allegedly providing 'Ndrangheta bosses with police information. The priest, who has been suspended as pastor of the local church, says he is innocent, his lawyer said.

Pope John Paul II took a strong public stance against organized crime. "Repent!" he said in Sicily in 1993. "God's judgment will come." Pope Benedict XVI called on young people not to give in to the Mafia's promises.

Pope Francis has also called on Mafiosi to "change your life, convert, stop doing harm," and voiced support for priests who refuse funeral rites for Mafia associates.

He became emotional when denouncing the killing of the Calabrian toddler Coco, who was caught up in an alleged mob hit. The car with the two bodies was then burned.

In March the pope prayed with the families of nearly 1,000 people allegedly killed by Italian organized crime. The Italian Catholic Church recently decreed that seminarians in Calabria must study the 'Ndrangheta, so that they can fight it more effectively.

Giacomo Panizza, a priest who has lived in Calabria for 40 years, says he was threatened and shot at when he used a home confiscated from the 'Ndrangheta as a center to help disabled.

For years, Father Panizza felt alone in fighting the Mafia in Calabria, he says, with local priests dismissing his concerns in the 1990s. "They used to say that I couldn't understand because I was not born there," recalls Father Panizza, who is originally from a northern Italian town.

"I feel safer today," he says. "It's harder to shoot a priest if the whole church is behind him."

Link:

• Pope Francis to Venture Into Mafia Stronghold

Little Italy is on the brink of extinction

Little Italy at Mullberry and Broom. Photo: JC Rice

By Kate Briquelet

(New York Post) A piece of New York City history is bidding arrivederci.

Rising rents and changing demographics have driven Little Italy to the verge of extinction. Once a teeming neighborhood stretching 50 square blocks, it now barely covers three blocks of Mulberry Street — and even that strip is under threat.

“You can’t rebuild Little Italy,” said Robert Ianniello Jr., owner of the famed Umbertos Clam House. “If we go away, it will never be here again. You can’t build an Olive Garden and say it’s Little Italy.”

Ianniello is battling a rent increase from a new landlord who bought the building last month for $17.5 million. He recently got a rent bill for $34,000 a month — more than double what he used to pay.

“It’s a landlord problem,” said Ianniello, who heads the Little Italy Merchants Association. “They think this is Fifth Avenue.”

Eight eateries have shut down in the past year.

Il Fornaio, once owned by Gambino mobster Joseph Corrao, remains empty.

Giovanna’s shuttered after a six-year run when the landlord doubled the rent. Ads show the owner wants $32,000 monthly for the space.

A block south, at Positano Ristorante, a legal notice in the window shows the city marshal took over the storefront on behalf of the landlord in January.

At S.P.Q.R., the monthly rent jumped to more than $50,000 and the eatery was forced to close. The space currently is home to a year-round Christmas shop.

One Mulberry Street apartment building is converting the ground floor into retail, while a hotel is being constructed on Grand Street next to the now-shuttered Florio’s restaurant.

But it’s not just development that’s pressuring Little Italy. Cultural conflicts are also cutting it down to size.

In 2011, Nolita boutiques demanded the city remove three blocks from the famous Feast of San Gennaro to keep revelers’ “greasy hands” from besmirching their $300 frocks.

The shopkeepers’ request had festival boosters hotter than a plate of baked ziti. More than 100 protesters packed a community board meeting.

“We had Italians from all over writing to the mayor,” said John Fratta, whose grandfather co-founded the annual festival in 1926. “It’s something that’s very sacred . . . You’ll see venom if you try to change it or stop it.”

Italian immigration surged in the late 19th century. By the early 1900s, nearly 10,000 Italians lived in the neighborhood, which once spanned roughly from Lafayette Street to the Bowery and from Kenmare to Canal streets.

Many residents flocked to the outer boroughs after World War II, and an influx of Chinese immigrants moved in, blurring the lines between Chinatown and Little Italy.

Today Little Italy’s heart is three blocks of Mulberry Street between Canal and Broome streets.

Emelise Aleandri, an author on Italian history and theater, said that the neighborhood remains a cultural touchstone for Italian Americans across the country — and that it would be a huge loss if it disappeared.

“Right now, there is just enough of a population to keep up traditions,” Aleandri explained. “But it’s going to be more difficult to keep the area Italian if the merchants and businesses leave.”

Link:

• Little Italy is on the brink of extinction

Catholic Church in Italy to be stripped of tax exemption from 2013

In 2010 the EU opened an investigation into whether tax breaks enjoyed by some Church properties in Italy could be classed as illegal state aid.

(The Telegraph) The Church currently pays tax on several properties it owns that are commercial enterprises but is exempt if at least some of the activities on the property are "non-commercial" - for example a chapel in a hotel.

"The regulatory framework will be definite by January 1, 2013 - the start of the fiscal year - and will fully respect the (European) Community law," Prime Minister Mario Monti's government said in a statement late Tuesday.

In February, the government had amended Italy's property tax law to end the Church's privileges amid rising calls for the Vatican to share in debt crisis sacrifices and in the face of intense scrutiny from the European Commission.

On Monday the Council of State, Italy's highest ranking court for administrative litigation, rejected the decree. But the government insisted everyone would pay property tax, Church included.

In 2010 the EU opened an investigation into whether tax breaks enjoyed by some Church properties in Italy could be classed as illegal state aid.

The extra revenue from these exempt properties - including hotels, restaurants and sports centres - could be €25.5m a year in Rome alone, La Repubblica daily reported, citing official figures.

Link:

• Italian church to be stripped of tax exemption from 2013

Sicily: Egyptian man beats pregnant wife for taking off veil in heat

(ANSA) - Porto Empedocle (Sicily), August 17 - An Egyptian man brutally beat his pregnant wife Friday after she took off her veil in an attempt to find relief from the scorching heat.

The woman, a 20-year-old from the town of Porto Empedocle in Sicily's southern province of Agrigento, was taken to hospital for treatment.

The man, 19 years old, was stopped by police after the incident and charged with assault.

The couple live in Turin for work reasons and had come to Porto Empedocle on vacation, to visit the woman's parents. According to the woman, whose father is Tunisian, she had asked her husband's permission to remove the veil because she was having trouble breathing. The husband at first responded by yelling at her, perhaps in hope of intimidating her, she said. When she removed the veil, he beat her for her lack of respect and also threatened passersby who tried to intervene on her behalf.

Link:

• Sicily: Egyptian man beats pregnant wife for taking off veil in heat

Priest physically assaulted for celebrating TLM and bringing back sacred tradition

Posted on 26 July 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

 

"The liberal approach.

Our friends at Rorate posted a translation of an article in Italian about an incident in Ronta, near Florence.

My emphases and comments:

“You have been tough, but we will smash your head. Signed, Your friend Satan”. That was one of several threatening messages sent to Father Hernán García Pardo, parish priest of San Michele, in Ronta [Mugello region of the Province of Florence, Tuscany]. His fault [was] that of celebrating the Latin Mass, liberalized by Benedict XVI in September 2007.  [NB: "The Latin Mass" can also be the Novus Ordo.]
The warnings, which had been recurrent for some time, had not made the priest, who despite everything has continued to say Mass according to the ancient rite, give up. The last chapter [took place] last Wednesday, when he was beaten up by a ‘faithful’ in the town’s rectory in the presence of his aged mother. The beating led to bruising on his back; having been sent to the emergency room of Borgo San Lorenzo, he was medicated..." (continued)

Read More

• Priest physically assaulted for celebrating TLM and bringing back sacred tradition
• Priest beaten up in front of his mother for celebrating the Traditional Mass

'Dossiers on enemies' found in Italian Scientology raid

'Suppressive persons'

By John Leyden

Italian police reportedly unearthed hidden dossiers on 'enemies' during a raid on Church of Scientology offices in Turin.

The files, apparently discovered behind locked doors in a basement office, allegedly contained personal information on judges, police officers and journalists identified as hostile to the Church.

Details on former Church members who have turned against Scientology were also reportedly recovered from handwritten files and computer records seized following a nine-hour search of the premises. No arrests took place, UPI adds.

The bust was reportedly authorised by local magistrates over concerns the local chapter of Scientology was holding sensitive personal data (including information on health and sexual orientation) in violation of Italy's privacy laws, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Elsewhere the Church has denied claims in Australia that senior members covered up the alleged sexual abuse of an 11-year-old girl.

Former Scientologist Carmen Rainer told ABC's Lateline programme that church officials persuaded her and her mum to lie to the authorities about alleged sexual abuse by her stepfather, Robert Kerr. Church of Scientology officials deny this and say it was only through their involvement in the case that Kerr eventually turned himself in and admitted his crimes.

• Link

Perhaps the worst ever design for a church

McItaly burger controversial in home country

Agriculture minister derided for defending new McDonald’s sandwich

ROME - (AP) Italy's agriculture minister defended his sponsorship of McDonald's new all-Italian burger Monday amid criticism that he is selling out to a multinational corporation and sacrificing Italy's culinary reputation in the process.

Minister Luca Zaia has argued that McDonald's new McItaly burger — using all Italian beef, Asiago cheese and artichoke spread — will pump €3.5 million ($4.8 million) more a month into the pockets of Italian farmers grappling with tough economic times.

But for a country that gave birth to the Slow Food movement a quarter-century ago and prides itself on its varied, delicious and healthy cuisine, Zaia's enthusiastic support of McDonald's has been hard to swallow...

More

Italian Priest Uncovers 100 Pedophile Networks

Meter Association Gathered Evidence for US and Italy

ROME, SEPT. 4, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A hundred online pedophile communities will be disconnected and prosecuted by U.S. and Italian authorities thanks to the work of the Meter Association, founded by Italian Father Fortunato Di Noto.

ZENIT learned from the association that the networks consisted of some 18,181 people who used online community Web sites to host and exchange "thousands of images and video footage -- 27,894 pedophiliac photos and 1,617 videos -- as well as information regarding the trade of minors."

The news was further publicized by Rome's Italian police force, in cooperation with other security forces.

"Thousands of children were involved," the association added.

Father Di Noto, a native of Sicily, explained that with the aid of a team of volunteers, Meter discovered "a universe that is not virtual, but real, in which people can register and exchange pornographic material of minors -- photos, videos, even dates with minors -- through one of the most well known social networks in the United States."

The association stated that "investigators both in Italy and in the United States termed the uncovered material an 'authentic horror,' with newborns and children of a very young age as the objects of violence and sexual abuse."

Meter, which is a pioneering association in the struggle against pedophilia, worked for six months in order to deliver the current evidence to the Italian police department that deals with Internet crimes. The charges were subsequently communicated to the North American authorities.

Response

Father Di Noto, a pastor in the town of Avola, stated: "It is impossible to describe the horrors we have seen, uncovered and denounced in six months. Constant vigilance has brought unexpected results, and today we have more hope than ever that online pederasty and pedophilia, crimes against children and against humanity, can and shall be defeated."

The priest added: "There is not a nation which has not been involved. Tens of thousands of people produce, exchange and possess material, and violate children."

"This is not 'virtual' material," he asserted, "but real, so real that when you hear in the videos the children's screams of pain, when you see in the photos the faces of the newborns, you can hear the drama, the pain, the suffering."

The association stated that online social networking sites have provoked a change in the pedophiles' strategies.

Father Di Noto explained, "The social network is a double-edged sword in matters of pedophilia: On the one hand, it permits communication between pedophiles and in a certain sense, increases their possibilities; on the other hand, it is the most efficient instrument for security forces to find and disconnect their Web sites."

The priest reported that over the past five years, his association has secured 1,064 charges and reported almost 6,000 sites to the authorities.

For this reason, the founder of Meter launched an appeal, to journalists in particular, to keep public awareness us and to "not to let down the guard against this crime."

In reporting about this type of thing, he said the authorities as well as the legislators will be motivated to give an adequate response to the terrible suffering of these children.

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Meter Association: http://www.associazionemeter.org/

• Link

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to celebrate a Mass during a Pastoral visit in the Sardinian town of Cagliari September 7, 2008. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Pope Benedict XVI, right, places a golden replica of a ship on the statue of the Virgin Mary of Bonaria, during an open-air mass in front of the shrine of the Madonna di Bonaria at Cagliari, in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Pope Benedict XVI is on a one-day visit to Sardinia. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithful during an open-air mass in front of the shrine of the Madonna di Bonaria at Cagliari, in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Pope Benedict XVI is on a one-day visit to Sardinia. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle in front of the statue of Our Lady of Bonaria as he celebrates a Mass during a Pastoral visit in the Sardinian town of Cagliari September 7, 2008. Pope Benedict said he was praying for the people of Haiti, which has been struck by three successive storms, and hoped enough aid would arrive there. REUTERS/Tony Gentile (ITALY)

Italian priest fined $80,000 for church bells’ ‘noise pollution’

Rome, Sep 5, 2008 / 01:34 am (CNA).- An Italian priest has been ordered to pay more than eighty thousand dollars to a woman living near his church because she claims the bells were rung too loud and too long at “unsocial hours.”

The judgment was handed down by a court in the town of Chiavari after retired university teacher Flora Leuzzi and others claimed the ringing of church bells created a form of noise pollution, the Guardian reports.

Professor Leuzzi lives close to the Carmine church in Lavagna, which is near Genoa. She first voiced complaints about the bell ringing 13 years ago.

The judge ruled that the bells emitted sound louder than average and agreed Leuzzi’s hearing had been marginally impaired.

He awarded about $13,000 for “biological damage” but more than $66,000 for the disruption of the professor’s social life.

Witnesses testified that they had stopped visiting Leuzzi because of the noise.

Under the decision, Father Stefano Queirolo may only ring the bells for Sunday Mass and at Christmas and Easter. The bells may be rung no longer than 20 seconds.

Father Queirolo reportedly said he expected the diocese to appeal the decision, explaining that the belfry had been soundproofed.

“We haven't been ringing the bells for at least four years now," he said, according to the Guardian.

Italy has among the highest density of churches in Europe.

• Link

Church Should Get Voice Too, Pontiff Affirms

Urges Prelates to Participate in Public Debate

VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In the framework of a healthy laicism, bishops also have a right to participate in public debates, Benedict XVI recalled.

The Pope affirmed this today when he met with the participants at the 58th Plenary Assembly of the Italian episcopal conference. The meeting is under way in the Vatican through Friday.

"As heralds of the Gospel and guides of the Catholic community, you are also called to participate in the exchange of ideas in the public domain, to help mold adequate cultural attitudes," he stressed to the prelates.

Benedict XVI noted how Italy wants to "begin a new stage of economic, but also of civil and moral growth," saying that "as bishops we cannot fail to make our specific contribution [to this endeavor]."

In this context, "we must above all say and witness with frankness to our ecclesial communities and to all the Italian people that, although the problems that must be addressed are many, the fundamental problem for the man of today continues to be the problem of God."

"No other human or social problem will truly be resolved if God does not return to the center of our lives," since he is the "source of hope that changes one's interior and does not disappoint" and, therefore, gives "consistency and vigor to our plans for good," the Pontiff stressed.

Not private

He emphasized to the Italian bishops that "in the framework of a healthy and well-understood laicism, it is necessary to resist every tendency that regards religion, and Christianity in particular, as only a private affair."

Instead, "the prospects that stem from our faith can make a fundamental contribution to clarify and solve the major social and moral problems of Italy and of Europe today," Benedict XVI affirmed.

"Strong and constant likewise must be our efforts" to defend "the dignity and tutelage of human life in all moments and conditions -- from conception and the embryonic phase, through situations of illness and suffering, until natural death," he added.

Along with his brothers in the episcopate, the Pope rejoiced over the opportunity the Church has in Italy to make use of the media in order to present its point of view and concerns "daily in the public debate," in a free and autonomous manner, "but with a sincere spirit of sharing."

• Link
  

Italian Bishops' Leader Backs Abortion Moratorum

Genoa, Jan. 4, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The president of the Italian bishops' conference has joined the ranks of supporters of a moratorium on abortion.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa described the proposal for a moratorium as "a praiseworthy choice," the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reports.

Five members of parliament from the National Alliance party have thrown their support behind the moratorium proposal, the daily Il Giornale says. The lawmakers said that a “political party must not and can not remain indifferent” in the face of a critical moral debate. Also, a leader of the country’s Christian Democratic Party, Rocco Buttiglione, has endorsed the proposal. Buttiglione, an active Catholic philosopher and biographer of Pope John Paul II (bio - news), was the focal point of a major political controversy in 2004, when his nomination for a seat on the European Council was blocked because of his statements indicating a moral opposition to homosexuality. Buttiglione said that the opposition was tantamount to an "anti-Christian inquisition."

Meanwhile the man behind the moratorium proposal, journalist Giuliano Ferrara, has pressed his argument with the suggestion that Italians should "make love, not abortion." Ferrara, the editor of Il Foglio, originally proposed the moratorium as a means of encouraging broader public discussion about the morality of abortion.

• Link