The French National Assembly begins debating a complete ban on Muslim full face veils in public next week and could outlaw them by the autumn. Belgium’s lower house of parliament has passed a draft ban and could banish them from its streets in the coming months if its Senate agrees. The Spanish Senate has passed a motion to ban them after a few towns introduced their own prohibitions.
Calls to ban “burqas” — the word most widely in Europe used for full veils, even if most full veils seen are niqabs — have also been heard in the Netherlands and Denmark. According to a Financial Times poll, the ban proposal also “wins enthusiastic backing in the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany”.
Only a tiny minority of Muslim women in these countries actually cover their faces, but that doesn’t seem to matter. That Switzerland has only four minarets didn’t stop Swiss voters from banning them in a referendum last November (and maybe banning veils next). There seems to be a movement to ban religious symbols that Europeans either reject or fear.
Is this the best way for Europe to deal with the veil? Should governments just introduce ever tougher policies and Muslims counter with increasing opposition? Is there another approach that could offer a more harmonious outcome?
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Roman Catholic Patriarch of Venice, thinks there is. His beautiful city of canals and gondolas might not be the first one would think of when discussing Muslim integration in Europe, but his Oasis Foundation there has been working with Christians and Muslims in the Middle East since 2004. His extensive contacts in the region have led to some ideas he thinks could be relevant for Europe. Read the rest
The murder of Bishop Padovese shocked the Christian world, especially in the Middle East. Do you believe this was the act of an isolated madman, or was there something more behind it?
Personally, I don’t know anything beyond what’s been in the newspapers about whether this was the act of an isolated madman (something, however, that the episcopal conference of Turkey, and above all the Archbishop of Smyrna, Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini, now the Apostolic Administrator of Anatolia, seems to rule out), or whether it was an organized act and, if so, at what level.
But from what Bishop Padovese said to us in Venice some months ago, during a meeting at the Cathedral of San Marco, I can deduce that he knew very well the risks to which he was exposing himself every day, and he faced those risks with an attitude of crystalline witness. Speaking of the church in Turkey, Padovese said: “If, as has happened in decades past, we as Christians accept being invisible, remaining an insignificant presence in the fabric of the country, there won’t be any problems. But we recognize, as is happening now in Palestine, in Lebanon, and above all in Iraq, that this is a dead-end street which doesn’t do justice to the Christian history of these countries, in which Christianity was born and flowered, and which would not do justice to the thousands of martys in these lands who have passed down to us the witness of their blood.” (Second Ecclesial Assembly, October 11, 2009). Read the rest
The Scientific Committee of the Oasis International Foundation
FOYER NOTRE DAME DU MONT, THE LEBANON, 21-22 JUNE 2009
EDUCATION BETWEEN FAITH AND CULTURE: CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM EXPERIENCES IN DIALOGUE
EDUCATION AS PAIDEIA.
A PROPOSAL FOR OUR TIME
+ Card. Angelo Scola,
Patriarch of Venice
At the beginning of the deliberations of the Scientific Committee of the Oasis International Foundation I believe that it is necessary to take an overall look at the pathway that has been followed over the last seven years in order to assess the importance of the initial insight that brought some of us together in Venice in 2004 and at the same time to reflect in a critical way on the steps that await us. In this way, in addition to making the numerous Lebanese invitees who are amongst us today (whom I would like to thank in a heartfelt way for their presence and my gratitude goes in a particular way to His Most Eminent Beatitude the Patriarch Sfeir, His Excellency Minister Tareq Mitri, the Nuncio, the kind speakers, the large number of Bishops, the rectors and the professors) informed about the origins and the goals of the Oasis Foundation, we will be able to renew our shared commitment to an undertaking that is not without complexity Read the rest
April 29, 2010. G. Fäldt, translation from the Italian for the Nordic Catholic Family Congress May 14-16, 2010, Jönköping, Sweden
Nordische Katholiche Familienkongress
Amore e Vita (Love & Life)
Jönköping, Freitag, 14 Mai 2010
+ Angelo Cardinal Scola
Patriarch of Venice
Before approaching the theme that the conference organizers have given me, which concerns God’s plan regarding the relation between man and woman in the sacrament of marriage, I would like to greet each one of you most warmly and thank His Excellence Monsignor Anders Arborelius who invited me at the end of June 2008 to take part in this meeting for families.
I would also like to thank the permanent deacon Göran Fäldt who has been in contact with me throughout the period leading up to the conference and Mrs Antonella Larsson who has done her utmost to make my trip to Sweden go as smoothly as possible. Read the rest
1. «I am Christ who have destroyed death, who have won the enemy and put the Hades under my feet, who have restrained the powerful and have lifted up man to the sublimity of heavens», an ancient Easter homily states. In two splendid mosaics – one present in our basilica and the other in that of Torcello which is much older – we can contemplate the powerful scene of the Anastatis (Resurrection). The Risen, with a vigorous arm, frees Adam and in him all men, from the chains of death trampling on the devil who vainly tempts to keep his victim. However, the victim manages to escape from his hands to enter in the new heavens and on a new earth. Christ is the undeniable protagonist of the scene.
Easter is the feast of Christ’s centrality in the life of man.
He is the centre of the cosmos and of history, the reading key of all the events of the existence of each one of us, of the whole human family and of the entire world. Read the rest
«You gaze at me from the cross/ this evening my Lord/ meanwhile your voice/ whispers to me: “Give me your heart”».
The gaze of the Redeemer imparts from the cross, with the melody of Mozart, this singular invitation: «Give me your heart». That is to say give me all of yourself. In fact, what is the heart, if not the centre of my self? The space of need-desire that constitutes me is continually stimulated by reality; does it urge to a continuous involvement? The heart is the impulse of every act of my liberty. The whisper of the crucified “Face” (your voice whispers to me) surprises us this evening during the veneration of the ancient and holy relics of the Passion. Read the rest
VENICE, Italy, APRIL 1, 2010 – Here is a translation of the statement on sexual abuse in the Church made today Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice, at the end of the Chrism Mass held in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
The solemn occasion of the Holy Chrism Mass which sees all the presbyterate gathered here, with the deacons, women and men religious and not a few lay faithful, impels me to say a rightful word in regard to the question of the sin and crime of pedophilia committed by priests and consecrated persons. This topic, also in our country, has been for some days on the front page.
With a calm and objective judgment I intend to manifest to you all, to all the Christian people and to all the inhabitants of the patriarchate, what in this regard I have had in my heart for days.
1. As Benedict XVI affirmed, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco and the recent final communiqué of the permanent council of the Italian episcopal conference confirmed, pedophilia “is an odious crime, but also a scandalously grave sin which betrays the pact of trust inscribed in the educational relationship. If committed by a consecrated person, it acquires an even greater gravity.”
Hence our dismay, sense of betrayal and remorse for violated childhood and even greater our closeness to the victims and their families. Hence also, without hesitation and minimizing, the renewed commitment to render an account of every one of these crimes, determined not to hide anything. Mercy and forgiveness toward those who have erred implies on their part submitting themselves to the exigencies of full justice and hence to answer “before God Almighty as well as before the courts duly constituted.” The Italian bishops are determined to follow the directives confirmed by the Holy Father whether through the canonical procedures or through a loyal collaboration with the state authorities. Moreover, they will multiply their efforts to prevent similar situations. Even one sole case “is always too much, above all if the one who carries it out is a priest.” Read the rest
VENICE – On the 28 of March in Venice the Passion Sunday’s procession took place. The procession started from Santa Maria Formosa and ended with the Holy Mass celebrated by cardinal Angelo Scola in the Patriarchal Basilica of San Marco.
Procession from Santa Maria Formosa to the Basilica, Scripture Reading: Lk 19: 28-40
Holy Mass, Scripture Readings: Is 50:4-7; Psalm 22 (21), 17-18.19-20.23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22, 14-23.56
1. «As he moved off, people spread their cloaks in the road, and now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole group of the disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen» (Lk 19:36-37).
Dear brothers and sisters. This commemoration is not a mere participation to a sacred representation nor a human deed to celebrate the beginning of the great events of the Holy Week; it is a liturgical action, an act of God. Its final meaning is given by the Opening Prayer we have said at the beginning of the procession carrying palm branches: “Almighty God, we pray you bless these branches and make them holy. Today we joyfully acclaim Jesus our Messiah and King. May we reach one day to the new and everlasting Jerusalem by faithfully following him”.
Like his disciples, we have accompanied the Lord who, determined, has entered into the Jerusalem of his passion in order to get to the Jerusalem of his glory. But the method (path) of this passage (Easter) is humiliation, suffering and death, as we have listened to in the whole Passion Reading according to St. Luke. “Regnavit lingo Deus” an ancient hymn declares. Read the rest
The Magi represent all men in search of God. Saint Paul annotes that «The pagans now share the same inheritance» (Eph 3,6). «Jesus Christ is not only relevant to Christians, or only to believers, but to all men and women. Christ, who is the centre of faith is also the foundation of hope. And every human being is constantly in need of hope» (Benedict XVI, Angelus 29th November 2009).
This is the source where Christians draw their passion to meet all men in every part of the earth and to share their life.
