From Catholic News Service

Pope meets with Iraqi minister, discusses constitution

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI met with Iraq's foreign minister on the day of the deadline for Iraqi political leaders to agree on a new constitution. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Pope Benedict Aug. 25 at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, and with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in the Vatican. The Vatican said discussions centered on the current situation in Iraq, including how the draft constitution, which was still awaiting approval by Iraq's National Assembly, would guarantee the freedom of religion. In a written statement released Aug. 25, Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, Vatican spokesman, said talks with the Pope and at the Vatican "made particular reference to the text of the constitution" and "to the important subject of religious freedom." Some church leaders in Iraq are concerned the draft constitution's reference to Islam as the source of all laws for the country might translate into discrimination against Christians and other religious groups.

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Pope urges Venezuelans to work together

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged Venezuela's church and government leaders to work together for the benefit of the poor and the common good. In an Aug. 25 speech welcoming Venezuela's new ambassador to the Vatican, Ivan Rincon Urdaneta, the Pope called for the creation of "different forms of fertile collaboration between state and church." The aim of church and state must be "to lend better service to human development and to promote a spirit of coexistence in freedom and solidarity, which will end up benefiting everyone," the Pope said in his written address, released the same day by the Vatican. Pope Benedict said he recognized the importance of the government's various social programs such as those promoting "literacy, education or medical care." These programs "require a generous and coordinated contribution from every citizen and different institutions" so as to foster a greater spirit of solidarity and long-term, concrete improvements in people's welfare, he said.

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Colombia's president accepts church offer for talks

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe has accepted the Catholic Church's offer to seek preliminary talks with rebel groups in an effort to lay the groundwork for formal peace negotiations with the government. Uribe, who met with leaders of the Colombian bishops' conference Aug. 22, said he hoped the efforts "could lead to a cease-fire." Uribe has said he will only launch peace talks with rebel groups after cease-fires are in place. Under Uribe's mandate, church leaders can make contact with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest rebel group, as well as with the smaller National Liberation Army, known as ELN. The majority of right-wing paramilitary groups, another major actor in Colombia's 40-year-old conflict, are in the process of disarming and dismantling their operations under a highly controversial agreement with the government. Church officials have been actively involved in seeking peace for many years in Colombia, where more than 3,000 people die each year due to the violence.

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German bishops seek youth involvement after WYD

COLOGNE, Germany (CNS) -- Germany's bishops have taken steps to try to turn young people's commitment to World Youth Day into long-term church involvement. "It can't just be a one-time event: The Pope's gone, and everything goes back to normal," Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner said Aug. 21, at the end of the events. "No, this is where it all begins." Mainz Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the German bishops' conference, said the conference was setting up a working group to see "where there are impulses in World Youth Day for normal pastoral work with young people, which we can perhaps make fruitful in a different way." Father Georg Austen, secretary of World Youth Day for the German bishops, will be in charge of the working group. He told Catholic News Service that he would work with dioceses and church youth organizations to ensure the "lasting effect" of the Aug. 16-21 events.

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Christians gather in Taize for funeral of Brother Roger

TAIZE, France (CNS) -- Some 10,000 Christians of various denominations traveled to the Church of the Reconciliation in the village of Taize, in the eastern Burgundy region of France, for the funeral of Brother Roger Schutz, the renowned ecumenical leader. It was in the church, exactly one week earlier, that the 90-year-old monk had his throat cut by a mentally unstable Romanian woman during a prayer service. Brother Roger's principal message had always been one of unity, and it was the Vatican's chief ecumenist, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who celebrated the funeral Mass. Anglican Bishop Nigel McCulloch of Manchester, England, who represented the archbishop of Canterbury, did the first reading in English. The second reading was done in French by the Rev. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the Conference of European Churches, and in German by Bishop Wolfgang Huber, head of the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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