From Catholic News Service

Corpus Christi processions show unity with Christ, Pope says

ROME (CNS) -- Corpus Christi processions are a sign that an individual's communion with Jesus Christ naturally leads to carrying his love and promise of salvation to the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. The Pope celebrated the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ May 26 with an evening Mass outside Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Mass was to be followed by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament from St. John's to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, just more than a mile away. In his homily, Pope Benedict spoke of the traditional Holy Thursday procession with the Eucharist to the altar of repose as a moment when the faithful walk with Christ toward his death. But the Corpus Christi procession, he said, is a moment when Catholics walk with the risen Lord, carrying him to the ends of the earth.

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Mexican bishops criticize proposal that would legalize euthanasia

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- A proposal in Mexico's Congress to legalize euthanasia has drawn strong criticism from the nation's bishops, with lawmakers saying they will challenge Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City to a public debate on the issue. Lawmakers from the Party of the Democratic Revolution have proposed a law that would allow doctors to actively aid terminally ill or brain-dead patients in dying. The law would require patients to put their wishes in writing, specifying at what point doctors should step in to speed their deaths. The Catholic Church in Mexico, however, has condemned the proposal as a slap in the face to human dignity. "Euthanasia is the killing of a person," Cardinal Rivera said May 22. "Homicide and suicide will always be something that is against God's design." The Mexican bishops' conference issued a statement urging lawmakers not to approve the measure.

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Lithuanian bishops express concern over rapid rise in occultism

VILNIUS, Lithuania (CNS) -- Lithuanian bishops said they are concerned by a rapid growth in the occult. "We see two dimensions of this concern," Cardinal Audrys Backis of Vilnius said during a May 19 press conference. "First of all, the proliferation of occult practices undermines the basic values of society and the common sense of people; they are (also) incompatible with the Catholic faith," Cardinal Backis said. "Secondly, superstitions, magic and sorcery present a serious problem for society on the whole, as they ruin one's personal initiatives (and) self-confidence and undermine the bonds of solidarity," he said. In a pastoral letter, the Lithuanian bishops said using items like the horoscope practitioners of the occult can control a person like a marionette. "Participation in the rituals, organized by the shamans from Russia, pose an extremely serious threat to one's spiritual integrity," the letter said.

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British cardinal sees crisis for European church in rising secularism

LONDON (CNS) -- A British cardinal said rising secularism has the European church entering "a time of crisis." Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said that "Europeans are in need, as never before, of seeing God." In a May 25 lecture in Westminster Cathedral in London, the cardinal said that rising secularism had led to the "extension of choice to all sectors of human life" and was "corroding our consciences." He said, "People are as good as their contracts, to be hired and fired at will; relationships become transitory, ad hoc, dispensable; old people and immigrants are diminished in the eyes of society, scapegoated as parasitic or useless; we wish to create human beings for particular purposes."

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Polish bishops urge actions, not words, to honor Pope John Paul II

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Polish bishops are urging Poles to reflect more deeply on the life of the late Pope John Paul II. The bishops said the "best monuments" Poles could make to the late Pope would be to help the poor and resist "lies and deception" in public life. "The time has now come to reflect in a spirit of faith, whose fruit should be not just better knowledge of his teaching, but above all a better life," the bishops said in a pastoral letter read at all Polish churches on May 22. The bishops said streets, schools, institutions and monuments were dedicated to Pope John Paul during his lifetime, while more "pious initiatives" have been announced since his April 2 death. But the bishops said attempts to honor the Polish-born pontiff would have value only if Poles followed Pope John Paul's teachings and imitated him "in personal and social life."

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