Kano, Nigeria (ENI). Hundreds of Christians in northern Nigeria were displaced from their homes and took shelter in police and army barracks following violence this month between Christians and Muslims in Kano City. The violence followed protests against the United States-led military action in Afghanistan. After the protests, youths began setting fire to cars and religious buildings, and the violence quickly spread to many parts of Kano, particularly those with large non-Muslim populations. [750 words, ENI-01-0366]

30 October 2001

New Delhi (ENI). An emotional funeral was held on 29 October at St Dominic's church in the town of Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province for the 15 members of the Church of Pakistan massacred inside the same church during Sunday's service. Unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets on the Protestant congregation just before 9 a.m. local time on 28 October as participants were singing the closing hymn of the Sunday service at this Catholic church used by the local Church of Pakistan congregation for its services. [1123 words, ENI-01-0363]

Romero's supporters push Vatican for sainthood

Tegucigalpa (ENI). Church leaders and others headed to a small Italian town last weekend to honour Archbishop Oscar Romero from El Salvador, and plot strategy for how to convince Vatican officials to finally declare the assassinated church leader an official martyr. Academics and clerics had been invited to a two-day conference on 26 and 27 October in Terni, between Rome and Assisi, in the diocese of Vincenzo Paglia, bishop of Terni, who is leading efforts to have the archbishop canonised. [953 words, ENI-01-0364]

Catholics and Protestants to start talks on doctrinal agreement

Brunswick (ENI). The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are to start discussions next month with other Protestant denominations about the doctrine of justification - one of the most contentious issues of the 16th century Reformation. Speaking at the weekend, the Vatican's top ecumenical official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, suggested that the talks with Reformed and Methodists could broaden a consensus already reached in 1999 between the Vatican and the LWF. Two years ago in a "joint declaration on the doctrine of justification", the Vatican and the LWF agreed there was "a consensus in basic truths" about the doctrine and that doctrinal condemnations from the Reformation era no longer applied to the teaching of the two communions. [628 words, ENI-01-0365]

29 October 2001

London (ENI). Archbishop John Ward, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Wales, has suddenly resigned in the wake of two sex abuse cases in his archdiocese. The 72-year-old archbishop, who has been on sick leave for several months, had previously insisted he would be staying in his post until he reached retirement age in 2004. Then, after a meeting with Pope John Paul II, he announced on 26 October that he had changed his mind. He said he offered his resignation to the Pope and "immediately felt at peace". [565 words, ENI-01-0362]

29 October 2001

New Delhi (ENI). An emotional funeral service was held today at St Dominic's church in the town of Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province for 15 members of the Church of Pakistan massacred inside the same church during yesterday's Sunday service. Unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets on the Protestant congregation just before 9 a.m. local time on 28 October as participants were singing the closing hymn of the Sunday service at this Catholic church used by the local Church of Pakistan congregation for its services. Among the dead was the church's pastor, Emmanuel Allah Ditta, who was leading the 100-member congregation when the gunmen stormed the church after killing a policeman on guard at the church gates. The government had posted police security at the request of the Christian community, who felt they needed protection after the start of the United States-led military intervention in Afghanistan. [1123 words, ENI-01-0363]

26 October 2001

London (ENI). In its efforts to prevent acts of religious hatred since the 11 September terror attacks, the British government is planning to introduce a law "of which the Taliban might be proud", according to civil libertarian and lawyer John Mortimer. Mortimer complained that the proposed law against incitement to religious hatred was "a disastrous attack on the freedom to debate one of the most important subjects of the world - religion". In the aftermath of the September attacks, the British home secretary announced that he planned to extend the law on incitement to include religious as well as racial hatred. [574 words, ENI-01-0360]

Remembrance of dead in terrorist attacks marks Russian Orthodox shift

Moscow (ENI). While the military strikes led by the United States against Afghanistan continued, Orthodox churches offered special prayers last weekend for the victims of the 11 September terrorist acts in the US. For the Russian Orthodox Church, in which anti-Western sentiment runs high, the services marked a shift in attitude towards a position much more sympathetic to Americans, coinciding with the increasingly pro-Western position of President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church, which has historically felt squeezed between Muslim and western Christian worlds, has trodden carefully between what has been seen as two sides of a conflict of civilisations. [916 words, ENI-01-0361]

25 October 2001

Oxford (ENI). A report commissioned by Roman Catholic bishops from European Union countries has called for a system of global governance to counter world-wide poverty and instability. The report said world-wide economic interdependence had "grown extraordinarily" in a single generation - with a tripling of trade in goods and services since the 1970s - and would "neither stop nor go into reverse". However, the difference between rich and poor countries has doubled since 1960, with the richest 20 countries enjoying per capita incomes 40 times those of the poorest 20, according to the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) in the 10 000-word report released on 24 October. [535 words, ENI-01-0359]

24 October 2001

Jerusalem (ENI). The masters of war this week temporarily cleared a path through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for Christian leaders, who appealed for an end to the bitter fighting. Some 1000 Christian clergy and laymen marched from Jerusalem to the violence-torn streets of Bethlehem to pray for peace in the Holy Land. As the demonstrators, accompanied by a few Muslim leaders, proceeded, they were honoured by the fighters in the front-line. Israeli soldiers briefly left their posts, tanks moved aside and Palestinian gunmen laid down their guns for a few hours during the procession on 23 October. [696 words, ENI-01-0358]

23 October 2001

22 October 2001

New York (ENI). International human rights organisations and churches have stepped up their criticism of the Colombian military following a series of massacres and killings, accusing the military of nurturing ties with right-wing paramilitaries. Charges by the New York-based Human Rights Watch and London-based Amnesty International are the latest in a series made by human rights and church organisations over the past year. [773 words, ENI-01-0356]

19 October 2001

Warsaw (ENI). Czech church leaders have urged steps to counter racist and neo-Nazi feeling in their country, after a spate of attacks on Roma and other minorities. "Roma and Vietnamese minorities are experiencing particular problems here, worsened by xenophobia among ordinary people and demands by aggressive young rightists," said Pavel Smetana, chairman of the Czech Ecumenical Council, which groups 11 Protestant, Orthodox and Old Catholic churches. Most other eastern European countries faced similar problems, Smetana added. [672 words, ENI-01-0355]

18 October 2001

New Delhi (ENI). Combating the stigma of leprosy is as important as fighting the disease, says a Christian organisation in India which is trying a new form of therapy for those living with an infectious disease that has afflicted humankind for millennia. "Leprosy-affected people are often treated as useless people to be banished from the society," said Harold Williams, communications officer of The Leprosy Mission (TLM) India. However, a pilot art workshop held here for people with leprosy and their families has demonstrated that people living with leprosy "can be as creative as others", Williams told ENI. [597 words, ENI-01-0354]

17 October 2001

London (ENI). The Church of England is planning to sell a set of religious paintings that have hung in one of its grandest bishops' palaces for more than 200 years in order to boost the church's investment funds. The paintings, by the 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran, show the biblical patriarch Jacob and his 12 sons. The set is estimated to be worth at least US$15 million. The paintings hang in the Auckland Castle residence of the bishop of Durham, Michael Turnbull. [558 words, ENI-01-0352]

German president calls need for religious dialogue 'ever more urgent'

Geneva (ENI). Visiting the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches today, German President Johannes Rau said that dialogue between the world's religions was essential if the world was to live in peace. "Without peace between the world religions, world peace is not possible," said President Rau, citing the Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng. [538 words, ENI-01-0353]

16 October 2001

Geneva (ENI). An international network of church aid agencies has criticised humanitarian airdrops linked to US-led military strikes in Afghanistan, saying they compromise other aid efforts in the region. Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, based here but uniting church-related relief efforts world-wide, called the drops of food packages from military planes "ineffective" and even potentially "dangerous" for the civilian population. [814 words, ENI-01-0351]

15 October 2001

Warsaw (ENI). Concerned about yoga's links to eastern philosophy, churches in Slovakia have welcomed a government decision to shelve the introduction of yoga classes for children at state schools. Slovakia's education minister, Milan Ftacnik, suspended the plans after discussions with leaders of the country's Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, Bishops Frantisek Tondra and Julius Filo. Church leaders believed that the plans threatened Christian culture, Daniela Zemlova, international secretary of Slovakia's Lutheran church, told ENI. [386 words, ENI-01-0350]

12 October 2001

Moscow (ENI). One of the world's oldest churches - the Armenian Apostolic Church - and one of its youngest states - the post-Soviet republic of Armenia, barely 10 years old - are celebrating this year the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity by ancient Armenia. Armenia became the world's first nation officially to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 - 12 years before the toleration of Christianity in the Roman Empire. The Armenian church became a powerful national church helping to create and preserve the identity of Armenians, who have lived under foreign rule for a large part of the past 1700 years. [996 words, ENI-01-0349]

11 October 2001

Vancouver (ENI). The bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada's beleaguered diocese of the Cariboo, in British Columbia, has announced his resignation as his diocese moves toward dissolution due to the costs of litigation linked to residential schools lawsuits. Bishop James Cruikshank, who turned 65 earlier this year, said he would resign on 31 December 2001, when the diocese is expected to close operations. The diocese of Cariboo will cease to operate due to costs of litigation linked to sexual abuse more than 30 years ago by a supervisor at St. George's Residential School at Lytton, in British Columbia, which at the time of the abuse had become a residential hostel for Aboriginal students attending public school. [625 words, ENI-01-0348]

10 October 2001

New Delhi (ENI). The widespread demand for a memorial postage stamp depicting India's only Orthodox saint is facing opposition from some members of the Orthodox church. Geevarghese mar Gregorios, who died in 1902, was declared a saint in 1947 by the Orthodox church of Kerala. While various church forums have urged India's federal postal department to issue the memorial postage stamp of the Orthodox saint to mark the centenary of his death in November 2002, some devotees of the saint say his image would be desecrated if used on a stamp.[456 words, ENI-01-0347]

9 October 2001

Warsaw (ENI). A plan to return parts of Slovenia's only national park to the Roman Catholic Church has come under fire from rival political parties who claim that the land should remain in public hands. Both the opposition Nationalist Party and the United List of Social Democrats, a member of Slovenia's coalition government, criticised a decision to turn over Pokljuka Forest, which covers 135 square miles of Triglav National Park, to the church. A poll in Slovenia's daily newspaper Delo suggested that 62 per cent of citizens also opposed the hand-over. [611 words, ENI-01-0346]

8 October 2001

New York/London/Geneva (ENI). Following the launch of military strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom in Afghanistan, religious leaders cautioned against the pursuit of revenge, with some voices calling for an immediate end to the action. The World Council of Churches urged the US and the UK to "bring a prompt end to the present action" and implored other nations not to join it. In the United States, H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, reminded Christians that they had a duty to seek alternatives to war. However, in a statement issued last night after the first military strikes, Anderson also referred to "certain circumstances" in which military force may be the only way "to offer protection to innocent people". He called on military leaders to "do all they can to protect civilians from harm" and urged diplomatic efforts to promote peaceful solutions. [1398 words, ENI-01-0344]

After military action, Pakistani Christians express concern

New Delhi (ENI). With violent protests erupting in Pakistan against the military strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom in neighbouring Afghanistan, leading Pakistani Christians have expressed concern about the situation. "The situation is not good. There are protests in all major cities including here in Lahore," said Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP). [463 words, ENI-01-0345]

Church has duty to speak out, says Zimbabwe's new Catholic spokesperson

Harare (ENI). Father Walter Makamure, the new spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference (ZCBC), says he will continue the outspoken style of his predecessor, Father Oskar Wermter, on human rights violations and social injustice in Zimbabwe. Makamure took over from Wermter as social communications secretary of the ZCBC on 1 October. Wermter, who held the position for almost 15 years, was known as a forthright critic of the government of President Robert Mugabe. [656 words, ENI-01-0342]

Survey points to 'growing concern' about violence against British clergy

London (ENI). More than half of female parish priests are afraid of personal violence as they carry out their duties, a survey of five Anglican dioceses in southern England has found. Their concerns are shared by almost two in five of their male counterparts. The survey's authors point to "growing concern" about violence against clergy and other community-based professionals like doctors and probation officers. [546 words, ENI-01-0343]

5 October 2001

New Delhi (ENI). Church leaders in Muslim-majority Bangladesh say they are "surprised and disappointed" over the outcome of general elections that have given a landslide majority to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Muslim right-wing partners. The four-party alliance, including the Islamic Jamaat-i-Islami party, have won 202 seats out of 283 officially declared on 3 October following national elections held on 1 October for the 300-member Parliament. [650 words, ENI-01-0341]

4 October 2001

Sydney (ENI). Nearly eight of 10 clergy are either badly "burnt-out" or having trouble coping with the stresses of their position, according to the results of a census-style survey of churches in Australia. The survey showed that four per cent of clergy were suffering extreme burnout. Another 19 per cent were finding burnout a major issue in their lives, and another 56 six per cent were "borderline to burnout" but coping. Only 21 per cent said burnout wasn't an issue in their lives. More than half of those surveyed felt their training had been seriously inadequate. The survey showed 12 per cent of Anglican clergy regularly considered leaving the ministry. A similar percentage felt they were not suited to their jobs. [922 words, ENI-01-0340]

3 October 2001

Warsaw (ENI). Polish police have launched a programme to protect the country's Roman Catholic parishes after a spate of attacks on churches and clergy. Jan Drob, financial officer of Poland's Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference, said church leaders were particularly looking for police advice on protecting 15th- and 16th-century wooden churches, because most of them contained valuable statues, sculptures and crosses and were especially vulnerable to arson and theft. Last month the bishop of Lowicz, Alojzy Orszulik, threatened to excommunicate thieves who had made off with the crown from a madonna in his cathedral unless they returned it and did penance. [622 words, ENI-01-0338]

Vicar hopes to boldly go where no priest has gone before

London (ENI). A priest who is an enthusiast about space hopes to take his interest to greater heights - as a chaplain with the international space station. Ken Clapham, an Anglican vicar from Over Kellet, near Carnforth, northern England, has good links to the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). "Amazingly, they said no-one had ever suggested a chaplain before," he told ENI. Clapham sees the role as a "mission opportunity", although he stresses that he would minister to crew members of all faiths aboard the station. [620 words, ENI-01-0339]

2 October 2001

London (ENI). A co-chair of "informal conversations" between Anglican, Methodist and Reformed denominations in England has criticised his committee for what he sees as a failure to fully link Reformed Protestants into ongoing talks about church unity. The co-chair, Colin Buchanan, who is the Anglican bishop of Woolwich, said recommendations from the informal conversations ignored concurrent formal talks between the Church of England and the Methodist Church. He urged that the United Reformed Church (URC) be officially linked to the Anglican-Methodist talks. [753 words, ENI-01-0337]

1 October 2001

New Delhi (ENI). With the prospect looming of United States military action against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, churches in neighbouring Pakistan fear reprisals against their minority Christian community. "The situation is very tense," Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), told ENI. "People are worried about what will happen to us [Christians]." [823 words, ENI-01-0335]

Ecumenical chapel in Brussels will help give 'a soul' to Europe

London (ENI). Church representatives have welcomed the inauguration of an ecumenical "Chapel for Europe" in Brussels to serve staff members of European Union institutions located there. "This spiritual beacon highlights the churches' joint presentation of Christian ideals to the European institutions," said Stewart Lamont, the Brussels-based executive secretary of the Conference of European Churches, which groups most of Europe's Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches. [625 words, ENI-01-0336]

Go to ENI Home Page