From Catholic News Service

Pope brings talents to ecumenical movement

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The morning after his election, Pope Benedict XVI told the College of Cardinals he was "prepared to do everything" in his power to promote Christian unity. But like his predecessors, Pope Benedict knows that not everything is possible and that unity must be based on a fully shared faith. In interviews with Catholic News Service before the Jan. 18 start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, ecumenical experts spoke about the talents Pope Benedict brings to the ecumenical movement and the challenges he faces. Pope Benedict is no stranger to ecumenism. In addition to his personal involvement in dialogues with Lutherans in Germany, all of the major agreements forged in Catholic dialogues with other Christians over the past two decades were vetted by him when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Many ecumenical observers have said Pope Benedict brings new hope for Christian unity precisely because of his expertise as a theologian and his background as a scholar accustomed to being challenged by the ideas of his peers.

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Cardinal hopeful about Chilean president-elect

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNS) -- Chilean President-elect Michelle Bachelet is "a symbol of the re-encounter among Chileans, a sign of great hope and a reconciled country," said Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz Ossa of Santiago. Bachelet, a member of the Socialist Party that forms part of the ruling coalition Democratic Concertation, won a runoff election with 53 percent of the votes, defeating businessman Sebastian Pinera of the National Renewal party, who obtained 47 percent of the votes. Bachelet received Cardinal Errazuriz and officers of the Chilean bishops' conference at her residence Jan. 16, the day after the election. Bachelet "suffered hate, but she preferred to overcome this hate through comprehension, tolerance and, as she says, love," Cardinal Errazuriz said after the meeting. Bachelet's father was arrested, tortured and died in prison following the 1973 military coup that overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende; Bachelet and her mother also were arrested, tortured and forced into exile in Australia, East Germany and the United States.

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Bishops urge Catholics to visit Holy Land

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- European and North American bishops called on Catholics worldwide to remember the church of the Holy Land in prayer and to come to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage. "We call upon the faithful in our nations to ... support generously the church's institutions here and to promote initiatives to bring peace and justice to all the peoples of the land," the bishops said in a statement released at a Jan. 19 press conference following the conclusion of their sixth annual meeting in Jerusalem. During the five-day meeting, the bishops expressed their solidarity with the church of Jerusalem and made pastoral visits to local Catholic parishes. The also met with members of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land. Because of the upcoming Palestinian elections and the political situation in Israel following the brain hemorrhage of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the bishops did not meet with Palestinian or Israeli leaders this year. Instead, they traveled to Jordan and met with King Abdullah II to discuss the importance of the Christian presence in the region.

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Pope's first encyclical explores love, charity

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI offered a sneak preview of his first encyclical, saying the text would explore the different dimensions of love and charity. In impromptu remarks at his general audience at the Vatican Jan. 18, the pope announced that the text, "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"), would be released Jan. 25. "In this encyclical I want to explain the concept of love in its various dimensions. In today's terminology, the meaning of love often is far from that which we know as Christians," he said. The text, about 50 pages in all, has been described by sources as a spiritual reflection on Christian love and erotic love, the church's work of charity and its mission to announce Christ. The pope said his goal was to demonstrate that "love is one movement with different dimensions." Vatican sources said the encyclical was delayed by a number of revisions in the text and that translation of the revisions was completed Jan. 17.

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Intelligent design not science, says Vatican newspaper article

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Intelligent design is not science and should not be taught as a scientific theory in schools alongside Darwinian evolution, an article in the Vatican newspaper said. The article said that in pushing intelligent design some groups were improperly seeking miraculous explanations in a way that creates confusion between religious and scientific fields. At the same time, scientists should recognize that evolutionary theory does not exclude an overall purpose in creation -- a "superior design" that may be realized through secondary causes like natural selection, it said. The article, published in the Jan. 17 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, was written by Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna in Italy. The article noted that the debate over intelligent design -- the idea that certain features of life and the universe are best explained by an intelligent designer rather than adaptive evolution -- has spread from the United States to Europe.

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