SUMMARY:
-
COMMUNIQUE CONCERNING DOCTRINAL ASSESSMENT OF LCWR
-
PLENARY MEETING OF HOLY SEE - ISRAEL BILATERAL COMMISSION
-
THE HOLY SEE HAS NOT CHANGED ITS POSITION ON EAST JERUSALEM
-
COMMUNIQUE ON THE INTEGRATION OF VIS INTO THE NEWS.VA PORTAL AND THE
HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE BULLETIN
-
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
______________________________________
COMMUNIQUE
CONCERNING DOCTRINAL ASSESSMENT OF LCWR
Vatican
City, 12 June 2012 (VIS) - Given below is the text of an
English-language statement released by the director of the Holy See
Press Office concerning a meeting held at the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith about the doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR.
"Today
the superiors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith met
with the president and executive director of the Leadership
Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in the United States of America.
Archbishop Peter J. Sartain of Seattle, the Holy See’s delegate for
the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR, also participated in the
meeting.
"The
meeting provided the opportunity for the Congregation and the LCWR
officers to discuss the issues and concerns raised by the doctrinal
assessment in an atmosphere of openness and cordiality.
"According
to Canon Law, a conference of major superiors such as the LCWR is
constituted by and remains under the supreme direction of the Holy
See in order to promote common efforts among the individual member
institutes and cooperation with the Holy See and the local conference
of bishops (cf. Code of Canon Law, canons 708-709). The purpose of
the doctrinal assessment is to assist the LCWR in this important
mission by promoting a vision of ecclesial communion founded on faith
in Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Church as faithfully taught
through the ages under the guidance of the Magisterium.
PLENARY
MEETING OF HOLY SEE - ISRAEL BILATERAL COMMISSION
Vatican
City, 12 June 2012 (VIS) - The Bilateral Permanent Working Commission
between the Holy See and the State of Israel held a plenary meeting
today in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, to continue negotiations
pursuant to the Fundamental Agreement article 10 paragraph 2.
"The
negotiations took place in a thoughtful and constructive atmosphere.
The Commission took notice that significant progress was made towards
the conclusion of the Agreement", reads an English-language
communique made public today.
"The
Commission further acknowledged the exemplary service of Archbishop
Antonio Franco and Ambassador Mordechay Lewy on the occasion of their
retirement.
"The
Parties have agreed on future steps and to hold the next plenary
meeting on 6 December 2012 at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs".
The Holy
See delegation was headed by Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, under secretary
for Relations with States, and the Israeli delegation by Danny Ayalon
M.K. deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.
THE
HOLY SEE HAS NOT CHANGED ITS POSITION ON EAST JERUSALEM
Vatican
City, 12 June 2012 (VIS) - Given below are extracts from an interview
given to Vatican Radio by Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, under secretary
for Relations with States, concerning the conclusion of the plenary
meeting of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the
Holy See and the State of Israel.
Question:
Over recent days there have been persistent rumours in some circles
that the Agreement, which has been in preparation for thirteen years,
would finally be signed. Yet it was not signed. What has happened?
Answer:
Nothing in particular. It is true that in some circles there was talk
of signing the Agreement, but that was not in fact scheduled. As I
have said before, progress has been made, but questions still remain
to be resolved.
Q: There
has been concern among Palestinians that, by signing this Agreement,
the Holy See would indirectly recognise Israeli sovereignty over East
Jerusalem and other territory occupied in the war of 1967.
A: The
Agreement in question concerns the life, activity and tax status of
the Catholic Church in Israel. It does not enter into territorial
disputes. There will be no mention of East Jerusalem or of anywhere
in the West Bank.
Q: But
there has been talk of a draft agreement in which certain places in
East Jerusalem and the West Bank are mentioned.
A: Since
the beginning of the negotiations we have worked on a plan for a
Comprehensive Agreement which also included the so-called 'Schedule
One'; that is, a list of individual properties belonging to the Holy
See and to certain institutions of the Catholic Church in the Holy
Land which, over the years, have been subjected to onerous provisions
by Israel. And it is true that some of those properties are in East
Jerusalem or in areas occupied in 1967. The aim was to resolve
concrete problems. However, for some time now, it has been decided
that the Agreement to be signed will only deal with certain
properties which are not in East Jerusalem or the West Bank.
Therefore it is incorrect to say that, by this Agreement, the Holy
See would be violating the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the
protection of civilian persons in time of war. The confusion and
concern were due to the undue use of a working instrument, which has
long since been superseded and which, in any case, is still being
elaborated.
Q: Has
the position of the Holy See on East Jerusalem changed?
A: The
Holy See's position has not changed. It was affirmed in the 'Basic
Agreement' between the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO), it has been reiterated on various occasions, and
will be mentioned again in the 'Global Agreement' with the PLO,
currently being prepared.
Q: A
final question. It has been written that this Agreement which the
Holy See is preparing with Israel will damage agreements that France,
Italy and other countries have with Israel.
A: That
is untrue, The Agreement concerns the Holy See and the State of
Israel, and has no effect on agreements Israel has made with other
States. The validity of those agreements depends first and foremost
on the will of the parities involved and not on the existence of an
agreement those parties have with a third party, in this case the
Holy See. This is, moreover, a commonly accepted principle of
international law.
COMMUNIQUE
ON THE INTEGRATION OF VIS INTO THE NEWS.VA PORTAL AND THE HOLY SEE
PRESS OFFICE BULLETIN
Vatican
City, 12 June 2012 (VIS) - "As of 31 July 2012 the Vatican
Information Service (VIS) will cease to exist as a separate office
providing information distinct from the Bulletin of the Holy See
Press Office. However, the subscribers of VIS will continue to
receive a comprehensive information service", according to a
communique released this morning by the Holy See Press Office.
"As
part of the development and coordination of the Holy See's social
communications activities, and following guidance received from the
Secretariat of State, the personnel of VIS will be transferred. Some
of them will go to reinforce the multilingual 'news.va' portal which
was established a year ago in the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications, others will be employed in the multilingual
development of the Press Office Bulletin.
"As
is now well known, the 'news.va' portal gathers the principal news
items concerning the Holy See and the life of the Church, as
published daily by the Press Office, the 'Osservatore Romano',
Vatican Radio and Fides News Agency. It then presents them in an
easily accessible format, accompanied by Vatican Television Centre
videos and photographs from the photographic service of the
'Osservatore Romano'. One of the characteristics of the portal -
which currently operates daily in Italian, English, Spanish and
French - is that it is structured in such a way as to make it easy to
share the material on social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter)
and to make it accessible with new applications on mobile devices.
"The
Press Office Bulletin has thus far been published principally in
Italian, unless the original texts were in other languages, while VIS
has worked regularly in four languages. Integrating the English-,
French- and Spanish-language staff of VIS into the everyday
activities of the Holy See Press Office will enable the online
publication of the Bulletin to be renewed, with the inclusion of
complete translations of various texts and language summaries of
texts that cannot be fully translated. These measures will be
gradually introduced beginning in September 2012.
"The
translated parts of the Bulletin, together with the summaries in
languages other than Italian, will continue to be sent to the 60,000
VIS subscribers who thus will not lose a service they have received
and appreciated for so long. Moreover, the extensive archive of more
than 85,000 articles in various languages, produced by VIS in more
than twenty years of activity, will be conserved and integrated, with
a simple and rapid search engine, into the site of the Press Office".
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 12 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:
- As
members of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: His
Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc,
Ukraine; Archbishop Zbignev Stankevics of Riga, Lithuania; Archbishop
Savio Hon Tai-Fai S.D.B., secretary of the Congregation for the
Evangelisation of Peoples; Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of
Regensburg, Germany, and Bishop Donald Joseph Bolen of Saskatoon,
Canada.
- As
consultors of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity:
Fr. Aimable Musoni S.D.B., professor of ecclesiology and ecumenism at
the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, and Fr. Robert Francis
Christian O.P., vice dean of the Faculty of Theology at the
Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
- As
members of the Congregation for Catholic Education: Cardinal Oscar
Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga S.D.B., archbishop of Tegucigalpa,
Honduras; Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal Jean-Pierre
Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux, France; Cardinal Oswald Gracias,
archbishop of Bombay, India; Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches; Archbishop Luis Antonio G.
Tagle of Manila, Philippines; Archbishop Alfredo Horacio Zecca of
Tucuman, Argentina; Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of Regensburg,
Germany, and Bishop Charles Morerod O.P. of Lausanne, Geneve et
Fribourg, Switzerland.
- Fr.
Indunil Janakaratne Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage of the clergy of the
diocese of Badulla, Sri Lanka, professor at the Faculty of Missiology
at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, as under secretary of the
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
You
can find more information at: www.visnews.org
The
news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used,
in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:
V.I.S.
-Vatican Information Service.
Copyright
© Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City
No comments:
Post a Comment