VATICAN : POPE : CHRISTIAN UNITY PRAYER WEEK

VIS REPORTS: WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY BEGINS TOMORROW

VATICAN  CITY, 17 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is due to  begin tomorrow, 18 January, under the theme "We will all be changed by  the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ". The Week is promoted by the World  Council of Churches (WCC), a worldwide fellowship of 349 Churches seeking  unity, common witness and Christian service. The Catholic Church participates  in this ecumenical initiative, despite not being a member of the WCC. (IMAGE SOURCE: RADIO VATICANA)

   The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally celebrated from 18 to  15 January in the northern hemisphere, and around the time of Pentecost in  the southern hemisphere. It brings together Christian parishes and  congregations from different confessional families all over the world, who  meet and pray together in special ecumenical celebrations.

   Each year ecumenical partners in a particular region are asked to prepare a  basic text on a biblical theme. Then an international group with  WCC-sponsored (Protestant and Orthodox) and Roman Catholic participants edits  this text to ensure it is linked with the search for Christian unity. The  text is jointly published by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian  Unity, and by the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order which also accompanies  the entire production process of the text. The final material is sent to  member Churches and Roman Catholic dioceses, which are invited to translate  the text and contextualise it for their own use.

   This year's theme comes from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians which  promises the transformation of human life - with all its apparent dimensions  of 'triumph' and 'defeat' - through the victory of Christ's resurrection.

   Following the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Benedict XVI invited the faithful,  "as individuals and in communities, to participate spiritually, and  where possible practically in the Week of Prayer, to ask God for the gift of  full unity among the disciples of Christ".
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DAY FOR DIALOGUE BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND JEWS

VATICAN  CITY, 17 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Today in Italy marks the Day for Dialogue between  Catholics and Jews, an initiative launched by the Italian Episcopal Conference  in 1990 with the aim of increasing mutual understanding among the members of  the two religions.

   In an interview with Vatican Radio Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, president emeritus  of the Italian Rabbinic Assembly, explained that the aim of the Day "is  to simplify and intensify Jewish-Christian dialogue. To this end, Jews and  Catholics meet to reflect especially on those themes we can confront  together, such as the search for peace and mutual understanding after two  thousand years of misinterpretation and distressing events. Thus, both the  Catholic and Jewish worlds await this Day with high expectations, because the  more dialogue is consolidated the more the risk of anti-Semitism  diminishes".

   Some years ago the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Italian Rabbinic  Assembly agreed to dedicate the Days to the Ten Commandments, and the theme  for 2012 is "Thou shalt not kill". Rabi Laras commented: "The  command not to kill is vital for men and women, irrespective of their  membership of one religion or the other. It is vital to respect and honour  human life in all its sacredness and uniqueness. This is an important theme  for our own times, in which throughout the world respect for human life is  often ignored and violated".

   For his part, Fr. Gino Battaglia, director of the National Office for  Ecumenism and Inter-religious Dialogue, observed that "the rich Jewish  tradition, developed through millennia of studying the Law, makes a  fundamental contribution. Yet the validity of this Commandment is evident, and  not only in the literal sense of murder being a crime. I am thinking, for  example, of the battle to abolish the death penalty, the problem of  widespread violence, ... and of respect for life. In this sense,  Jesus-Christian dialogue takes concrete form in its commitment to society and  to the world".
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NEW DIRECTOR OF THE VATICAN PRESS

VATICAN  CITY, 17 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B.  has appointed Fr. Sergio Pellini S.D.B. as director general of the Vatican  Press.

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