| Catholics
holding their own in the modern world
Rome, June
16th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The proportion of Roman Catholics
in the world has dropped slightly during the tenure of John
Paul II, although the overall number has increased, a discrepancy
due to the fact that it has not kept pace with demographic
growth on the planet.
According to Vatican statistics, there
were 757 million Catholics in 1978, and by 2002 this number
had increased to 1070 million, counting as ‘Catholic’ everyone
who was christened according to their rite. However, by this
measurement this still means that one in six people alive
is ‘Catholic’, the proportion having dropped from 17.99% in
1978 to 17.20% in 2002. The country with most Catholics is
Brazil, 140 million,
followed by Mexico,
100 million, though the percentage there has dropped 8% in
the period under investigation (see earlier article). A surprising
name crops up in third place, the USA, with around
60 million many of them of Hispanic origin.
Half the Catholics live on the American
continent, 26% in Europe, 12.84% in Africa, 10.3% in Asia,
and 0.78% in Oceania. The total number of Catholic clergy
stands at 4,217, 572 of whom 4,695 are bishops, 405,000 priests,
30,000 permanent deacons and 782,000 nuns. Then there are
religious ‘brothers’ who are not priests, lay missionaries
and catechism teachers. This last category accounts for 2.767.500
of the total. The greatest growth has been in Africa, while
Europe remains stable.
Source: Crónica de Hoy. Editing: ACPress.net
World’s oldest
altar found in
Serbia,
June 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A sacrificial altar, dated
at 9,000 years old, has been found in Serbia.
It is covered in drawings which look like writing and according
to archaeologists, it could be the oldest in existence.
The altar was found 2 years ago in western
Serbia, a couple
of miles from the archaeological dig at Lepenski vir, where
remains of a culture which flourished between the 7th and
6th centuries BC were discovered about 30 years ago. The altar,
found by a fisherman on the banks of the Danube, could come
from the early stages of this culture and if so, the writing
on it would be the earliest known. Serbian archaeologist,
Dragan Jacanovic, believes the find could end the ‘dogma’
in Serbian archaeology which says writing did not exist in
Balkan pre-history.
“It is simply impossible that a civilisation
like that of Lepenski vir, which knew about architecture,
urban life, geometry, mathematics, astronomy, art and religion,
did not have a system of communication through some kind of
writing,” says Jacanovic. The altar with its drawings was
presented at an international symposium in Novi Sad recently.
Source: Universal. Editing: ACPress.net
Christian pocket
guide for child protection on Internet
London, June
17th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The first Christian pocket
guide for parents on how to control their children’s access
to the Internet is soon to be published in England
and is guaranteed to become a success.
The guide is written by a church consultancy
service on child protection and meets a need highlighted by
polls which suggest that three-quarters of parents are worried
about the access their children might have to pornographic
websites, plus the dangers of ‘meeting’ strangers in chat
rooms. The guide will be published in the autumn and is currently
being checked by school Heads to ensure that it contains all
the necessary steps for children to use Internet safely. It
also includes details of organisations which can offer assistance
in case of problems.
Although it sounds alarmist, the Chairman
of the consultancy service, D. Pearson, alleges that “almost
every day there is news of children who have been kidnapped
or who are the victims of abuse from people they met on Internet.”
By following a few simple safety rules, this problem can be
reduced drastically. A recent study found that child pornography
offences have gone up by 1,500% since 1988, and that 6,500
people used their credit cards in that time to buy material
containing child pornography.
Source: CCPAS. Editing: ACPress.net
Lord Carey says
Prince Charles should marry
London, June
17th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
George Carey, who recently
stepped down as Archbishop of Canterbury, recommends hat Prince
Charles marries Camilla Parker-Bowles. This is the first time
such a prominent Anglican leader has given his blessing to
the union between the heir to the throne and his divorcee
girlfriend Carey, who has spoken to Parker-Bowles several
times, says “he loves her and the natural thing is for them
to marry”.
Carey’s comments come against the background
of an issue of considerable debate in Britain.
Church of England rules surrounding the remarriage of divorcees
were recently relaxed, but in the case of the Prince there
are other issues at stake as well. Until last year, the Church
of England was firm in its opposition to the remarriage of
divorcees, unless the former spouse had died. New legislation
allows remarriage if the person concerned was not the cause
of the failure of their first marriage. It seemed that this
prepared the way for Charles and Camilla to marry, although
the interpretation in their case would have to be pretty liberal,
given that Parker-Bowles was somewhat instrumental in the
breakdown of the marriage between Prince Charles and Lady
Diana Spencer (the latter’s amours notwithstanding).
Although most Anglican bishops have
made no public pronouncements on the issue, it is known that
many believe it would be better for Charles to marry than
to go on in his current, ambiguous state, especially as he
will become titular Head of the Church of England on his accession
to the throne when he succeeds his mother, Elizabeth II. Parker-Bowles
is beginning to appear at more public functions, though as
yet not the most significant ones.
Carey says Christian faith “is above
all about forgiveness. We all make mistakes, this is part
of the human condition and there is no doubt that in this
case there has been a strong love probably since both were
very young, which has lasted over the years.” Lord Carey also
questions the marriage law of 1772 by which Prince Charles
would need the consent of the reigning monarch, his mother,
in order to be able to marry. Carey sums up the situation
thus: “It is time the heir to the throne had an honest wife,
the person he has loved since he was young.”
Source: ABC. Editing: ACPress.net
Indifference
marks papal visit to Switzerland
Berne,
June 17th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Indifference was the over-riding
response to the recent papal visit to the Swiss capital. This
is the least one might expect from the Protestant community
in this bastion of the Reformation and a country which witnessed
the death of that hero of the faith, Ulrich Zwingli, in a
cantonal war against the Catholics. More surprising though
is the similar lack of interest among the Catholic population,
which has swelled to 43% in recent years due to immigration.
John Paul II, now 84, made a point of
meeting youngsters, and challenging them to resist the tide
of hedonism, consumerism and apathy which characterises modern
society. However, many seem to think the Pope represents a
stagnant organisation the Catholic Church far removed
from current reality. Of course, the Pope spoke about Christian
unity as he does when he goes to majority Protestant nations
and his commitment to moving towards full communion between
all believers.
Yet some are more equal than others,
of course, in this Catholic view of things, as shown by the
appointment of a Swiss ambassador to the Vatican, which
put the Protestant churches up in arms. They complained, rightly,
that the state was giving preferential treatment to one church
set-up by entering into official state relations with them.
It beggars belief that in this day and age, modern governments
can still consider the Vatican
to be on an equal footing with other nation-states. Swiss
Protestants are also angry that the move ignores the fact
that the Pope says one thing but does another; his ‘Dominus
Iesus’ which came out last year reserves his right to ‘manage
revelation’, and relegates all other Christians to a kind
of second division.
Mixed marriages are questioned by Rome though they have been acceptable in Swiss
church circles since 1972, and a recent edict by the Vatican
reiterated the ban on non-Catholics receiving Communion in
Catholic churches. Evangelicals will not be concerned with
either of these dubious ecumenical manoeuvres, but Catholic
hypocrisy is there for all to see. This is why the Swiss Reformed
Church, although invited to read a document during one of
the Masses celebrated during the papal visit (itself an anachronism),
refused the invitation.
Switzerland
has been powerfully influenced by democratic Protestant traditions
and liberties. About half the country abandoned Catholicism
in 1520 under the leadership of Zwingli in Zurich, and Calvin
in Geneva. Religious wars broke out frequently until the liberals
won a victory in 1847, from which came the present Constitution.
The Swiss church has been influenced by a markedly Protestant
spirit, free from the strictures of rigid ecclesiastical hierarchies.
Even Swiss Catholicism has been influenced by this spirit,
and ironically used this road to regain a measure of importance
in the country.
Some talk of Swiss Catholics having
been ‘Protestantised’, and indeed set up a Synod in the 1970s
to regulate their activities. Last year, local Catholic parish
councils called for an end to priestly celibacy and for women
to be able to be priests, to the horror of the Catholic hierarchy.
This is why many of them consider the current Pope to be past
his sell-by date, not so much in age, but in values.
Source: SwissInfo, Efe. Editing: ACPress.net
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