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The Southern Cross, Page 2 Pope names top aide to head Congregation for Bishops Vatican City (CNS) ope John Paul II has named one of his top aides, Italian Archbishop Giovanni Battista Re, to head the Congregation for Bishops. Archbishop Re, 66, will preside over one of the most influen tial Vatican departments, in charge of preparing bishops’ nominations worldwide. He also becomes president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Vatican announced the appointment September 16. He replaces Brazilian Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves, who submitted his resigna tion on his 75th birthday. Cardinal Neves reported ly has had serious health problems related to dia betes over the last two years. Archbishop Re has been sostituto or assistant Secretary of State since 1991. Pope meets with, reassures Reformed leaders on ecumenism Vatican City (CNS) fter an alliance of Protestant churches criti cized a Vatican document as “ecumenically insensitive,” Pope John Paul met with alliance rep resentatives and underscored the Catholic Church’s commitment to improving ecumenical relations. “The commitment of the Catholic Church to ecu menical dialogue is irrevocable,” he told members of a formal dialogue commission of Catholics and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches meeting September 13-19 outside Rome. The World Alli ance of Reformed Churches said it had considered canceling that meeting after the Vatican released a document September 5 reiterating church teaching that the “church of Christ... continues to exist fully only in the Catholic Church.” Unfunded retirement liability FOR RELIGIOUS DOWN AGAIN Washington (CNS) he unfunded retirement liability for the nation’s female and male religious has dropped another $700 million, from $7.1 billion to $6.4 bil lion, according to a biannual survey conducted by the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. The $6.4 bil lion figure represents the unfunded retirement lia bility in 1999. It is down $1.5 billion from the all- time high of $7.9 billion recorded in the 1996 sur vey. The survey, dated July 31, was released in mid-September by the National Religious Retirement Office, which oversees the annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection in U.S. dioceses in December. MeadMaa® H©jpsc©tdh Austrian church to support GOVERNMENT FUND FOR WWII LABORERS Warsaw (CNS) hurch leaders in Austria agreed to support a government fund for compensating forced laborers from World War II. However, a spokesman said donations would be “symbolic only” and stressed that research was needed to determine how many foreign workers were used in Catholic institutions. “The Catholic Church was one of the most important victims of the German regime in Austria, but we also share responsibility for our history,” said Erich Leitenberger, spokes man for the Vienna Archdiocese. “Our contribution will be symbolic only since few of the people involved are still living today, and since our aim is to show that Austrians are very sad about what happened,” he said. Vatican official, in China, EMPHASIZES CHURCH DEFENSE OF RIGHTS Beijing (CNS) top Vatican official, on his third trip to China, underlined the Catholic Church’s commitment to defending human rights and religious freedom. In an address on the opening day of a September 14-16 Beijing symposium on religions and peace, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Vatican’s jubilee committee, said “fear of the other” was often at the root of conflicts. Calling for open acknowledgment of differences as “com plementary destinies in the service of the common good,” the cardinal urged interreligious respect to go beyond “simple tolerance.” Dutch cardinal laments law ALLOWING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE Vatican City (CNS) A Dutch cardinal expressed disappointed resig nation to a new law giving same-sex couples the right to marriage and adoption of children. “I am sad,” Cardinal Adrianus Simonis of Utrecht, Netherlands, president of the Dutch bishops’ con ference, told Vatican Radio September 13. “It is a sign of the way our people’s thinking has changed with regard to certain fundamental points on which human society is based,” he said. Dutch lawmakers voted overwhelmingly September 12 to enact leg islation allowing homosexual couples to convert their current “registered same-sex partnerships” to full-fledged marriages, complete with adoption rights and guidelines for divorce. Thursday, September 21, 2000 Italian cardinal asks govern ment to favor Catholic immi grants Rome (CNS) n Italian cardinal, sparking new controversy in a long-running debate on immigration, called on the government to favor Catholic immigrants over those of other religions—particularly Muslims—in order “to protect the national identi ty.” “The criteria for admitting immigrants cannot be only economic,” said Cardinal Giacomo Biffi of Bologna. “It is necessary that one seriously con cerns oneself with saving the identity itself of the nation.” The 72-year-old cardinal’s remarks, con tained in a pastoral letter September 13, provoked fierce criticism from the government and drew praise from opposition parties. Bishops consult on revising HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES Cincinnati (CNS) bout 60 bishops, theologians and Catholic health care leaders had a consultation September 14 on health care ethics. Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, said the consulta tion “focused on the provisional texts for selected directives and the appendix of the ‘Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services’.” “The purpose of the meeting was to provide an overview of the substance of the pro posed revisions and to dialogue about their impli cations for Catholic health care ministry in the United States,” he said in a brief written statement. Charismatic leaders assess movement’s strengths, CHALLENGES Anaheim, CA (CNS) eaders of the Catholic charismatic renewal are turning their focus inward to assess the move ment’s strengths and the challenges it faces. “Have we settled for less than God wants of us in this charismatic renewal movement?” asked Sister Nancy Kellar, a Sister of Charity who spoke during the annual Southern California Renewal Communities convention in Anaheim September 1- 3. In a talk titled “The Mission and the Challenges Facing the Charismatic Renewal in the New Millennium,” Sister Kellar said the purpose of charismatic renewal “is not to bring all Catholics into charismatic renewal, but to bring new life to Catholicism.” To Subscribe Send this in to your parish, together with your check for $15, made out to the parish. 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