Medjugorje seers must reveal 'secrets'
The Vatican is to insist that the alleged visionaries claiming to receive messages from the Mother of God in the village of Medjugorje must reveal the 'secrets' according to well-placed sources in Rome.
The six alleged visionaries claim that they have received ''secrets'' as part of the phenomenon of Medjugorje where they claim the Blessed Virgin has been appearing regularly since 1981.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed a commission of inquiry in March headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini. The six alleged visionaries - Vicka Ivankovic, Mirijana Dragicevic, Marija Pavlovic, Ivan Dragicevic, Ivanka Ivankovic and Jakov Colo - will now reportedly be summoned to the Vatican in the autumn and asked to reveal the so-called ten ''secrets'' they claim have been entrusted to them by the Mother of God. In the past the six protagonists refused to reveal the alleged secrets during a 1982 Church commission of inquiry.
According to reports on the respected Petrus website, the alleged visionaries' answers will be decisive in clarifying if the Virgin really appeared at Medjugorje, a city that has turned into Europe's third most important religious place.
NIGERIA
8 Christians killed
At least eight Christians have been killed in an attack by machete-wielding assailants near the city of Jos.
The attackers descended on a village on the outskirts of Jos, burning about 10 houses officials said. Some reports said the dead included the family of a Catholic priest.
Clashes between rival communities - Hausa Muslims and Berom Christians - have left hundreds dead this year.
Deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010 left hundreds of people dead. Although the clashes take place between Muslims and Christians, observers say the underlying causes are economic and political.
VATICAN CITY
Caravaggio uncovered
The Vatican newspaper has reported that a new Caravaggio painting may have been found in Rome, but cautioned that further analyses are required before it can be attributed for certain to the Italian master.
The front-page story in L'Osservatore Romano came out as Italy celebrates the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death. This weekend, churches and a gallery in Rome housing works by the painter will stay open overnight to mark the anniversary.
The painting in question depicts ''The Martyrdom of St Lawrence'' and belongs to the Jesuits in Rome, the paper said. It did not say where the painting was being studied or who was examining it.
An image of the work published above the headline ''A New Caravaggio'' shows a semi-naked young man, his mouth open in desperation, one arm stretched out as he leans over amid flames.
''It is up to further analyses and an in-depth documentary, stylistic and critical examination to provide us with answers,'' L'Osservatore Romano said.
Caravaggio died in the Tuscan coast town of Porto Ercole in 1610 at age 39. He had been hugely influential and famous, but had also led a dissolute life of street brawls and alcohol.
He died in mysterious circumstances. Recently, a team of Italian researchers said they had identified Caravaggio's remains after a year of digging up bones in Porto Ercole and conducting carbon dating, DNA testing and other analyses.
Female bishops unity obstacle
A senior Vatican official dealing with Christian unity has described the prospect of women bishops in the Church of England as an ''enormous obstacle'' to Christian unity.
Irishman, Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary for Promoting Christian Unity, said: ''All the Churches of the first millennium, Catholic, Eastern and Orthodox, state that only men can be ordained. These Churches see the ordination of women as an illegitimate abandonment of authentic Tradition.
''It saddens us that on this point the Anglican Communion has left what we consider the essential Tradition of the Church since its beginning,'' he continued. ''But the process began a long time ago.''
Bishop Farrell said ''we will continue the ecumenical dialogue with a realism that accepts things as they are and is aware that the road ahead is long and arduous. Knowing, however, that dialogue is a task imposed by Christ himself and sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit, soul of the Church of Christ.''
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Bishops lament fresh violence
The bishops of the Dominican Republic have issued a statement calling for an end to the violence that is afflicting the Caribbean nation.
''We are deeply concerned and saddened to see an escalation of violence in our country. How can we be indifferent to the shedding of blood, to so many violent attacks on the men and women for whom Christ shed his own blood?
''We must each examine our behaviour, personal and institutional, to see if we are truly people of peace or instead perpetrators of violence,'' the bishops added.
The country has been hit with a wave of violence related to a police crackdown on drug trafficking and organised crime that has seen dozens of people lose their lives.
INDIA
Catholics suffer fresh attack
A hundred tribal Hindus attacked, beat and insulted seven Catholic couples in the Indian state of Orissa at the weekend, the scene in August 2008 of anti-Christian pogroms.
A local priest told the Rome-based AsiaNews agency that the incident has ''shocked'' the faithful who feared for ''their lives, their children's lives, for the safety of their homes and property.''
A campaign of hatred and violence against Christians organised by radical Hindus, resulted in attacks in December 2007 and the anti-Christian pogrom of August 2008 which claimed over 500 lives.
IRAQ
Ordination joy for Iraqis
The Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk has described as ''a sign of vitality and hope'' the ordination of two Iraqi priests and four deacons at the weekend.
Archbishop Louis Sako said: ''It can be said that July saw a real flowering of priestly ordinations which have infused new life into the Christian community, prostrated by continuing sectarian violence and the political instability that plagues Iraq.''
Islamist-fuelled violence has intensified against the Christian community following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. More than a dozen priests have been murdered as well as scores of members of the faithful.
GERMANY
Female bishops resign
The bishop of Hamburg - the world's first female Lutheran bishop - has resigned amid criticism of her handling of a sex abuse case.
Maria Jepsen stepped down saying her credibility had been undermined.
She denies having known before May this year about a Lutheran minister in the town of Ahrensburg who reportedly sexually abused boys and girls in the 1980s.
Maria Jepsen was elected bishop in 1992, becoming the first woman worldwide to hold the post.
The Christian Churches in Germany have been hit by a number of embarrassing incidents recently.
Catholic Bishop Walter Mixa resigned in April after claims he hit children while the head of the Protestant Church in Germany, Margot Kaesmann, resigned after she was caught by police drink driving.
PORTUGAL
Bishop calls for just salaries
In the midst of a crisis in public finances a leading Portuguese bishops has called on governments to ensure a just salary for their citizens.
Bishop Joâo Miranda Teixeira of Oporto told thousands of pilgrims from more than 30 countries attending the Marian shrine of Fatima, ''the first thing that has to be shared is what derives from justice: a just salary for those who work.''
The present crisis, he said, ''is not primarily a financial or economic issue, but a moral crisis.''
THE NETHERLANDS
'Football priest' is suspended
A Dutch priest who stood in goals while parishioners kicked a ball down the aisle during Mass has been suspended.
Fr Paul Vlaar, who also wore orange vestments - the colour of the Dutch soccer squad - during Sunday Mass, was suspended because he ''celebrated the Holy Eucharist in the spirit of the Football World Cup, wearing an orange chasuble, and did insufficient justice, in text and form, to the sanctity of the Eucharist,'' a Church spokesman said.
''In the past the bishop had impressed upon Fr Vlaar not to mix the Holy Eucharist with profane events. Following this new incident the bishop again met with Fr Vlaar, imposed an immediate time of reflection on him and relieved him of his priestly duties for the time being. Things will once again be considered at a later date,'' the diocese said.
CUBA
Political prisoners are released
Several more political prisoners are to be released after Church leaders appealed to communist dictator Raoul Castro.
Nine prisoners are expected to fly to freedom in Spain this week along with 50 of their relatives. They will join 11 other anti-regime protesters who were released to live in Spain last week.
The liberation of 20 Cuban dissidents to Spain is part of a commitment made by the Castro regime to release 52 opponents imprisoned since 2003 under an agreement reached with the Spanish government and Catholic Church.
