Vatican

Catholics must not 'conform'
THE GREAT danger facing religious is their being conformed to the prevailing lifestyles of modern society, according to the Pope
His remarks came during a meeting of the general chapter of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, who were accompanied by their superior general, Father Joseph Tobin.
"If the temptation of conforming to lifestyles, which are culturally dominant today, were to contaminate your communities, your religious spirit and evangelising impetus would run the risk of being weakened," the Pope said in his address.
The Redemptorists were founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori in 1732 to proclaim the Gospel, especially through popular missions. To live this missionary vocation, the religious should cultivate, above all, "an intense personal and community prayer life," the Pope said.
In "these times, for various reasons, many people arc far from Christ and the Church, and many are still waiting to hear the Gospel for the first time," he added.
The Redemptorists "will revive and confirm the hope of the Gospel in the hearts of so many people. especially those in most need, because they have been stained by sin and its evil consequences," the Holy Father said.
Pontiff prays for youth
THE POPE has promised to pray for Christian youth during the month of October.
Every month, the Pope offers his prayers and sacrifices for a special intention, published by the Apostleship of Prayer.
This month the intention is: "That young people may follow Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life, with generous enthusiasm arid be ready to bear witness to him in all the situations in which they live."
The Holy Father's missionary intention for October is: "That for the Church, God will not fail to provide pastors who are rich in wisdom and holiness and ready to defend the light of the Gospel to the very ends of the earth."
Laity council gets new chief
JOHN Pan 11 appointed Bishop Stanislaw Rylko the president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
The Polish bishop, 58, succeeds Cardinal Francis Stafford, and will receive the title of archbishop.
Bishop Rylko is also a consultor of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and a member of the pontifical councils for the family and for migrants, and of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The laity council has competence in matters that refer to "the apostolate of the laity, namely, its participation in the life and mission of the Church, either as members of associations of the apostolate or as private" individuals, the Pontifical Yearbook explains.
The council also advises the Pope on lay movements and communities, and helps to organise World Youth Days.
Vatican seeks cloning ban
THE VATICAN has again urged a ban on all forms of human cloning and warned that sonic embryonic cell research could end up "instrumentalising women."
In a speech to a United Nations panel, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer at the UN, also made a plea to the world community to continue research with adult stem cells that posed no ethical problems.
Speaking ahead of the UN study commission now meeting to approve an "International Convention Against the Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings", the archbishop said he supported research with human adult stem cells "when pursued in a way that it does not offend human dignity and, if applied clinically, respects the principle of informed consent".
Archbishop Migliore stressed that "the cloning of human embryos to produce stern cells for potential therapeutic use has not only failed to demonstrate any verifiable scientific promise, it also raises serious ethical questions".
He noted that the "experimental or research cloning of embryonic stern cells requires the production of millions of human embryos with the intention of destroying them as part of the process of using them for scientific research".
"Destroying this embryo results in a deliberate suppression of an innocent human life," the archbishop said. "The early human embryo, not yet implanted into a womb, is nonetheless a human individual, with a human life."
Women also suffer the problems of a moral character that stem from human reproductive cloning, he said.
He explained that research in embryonic cells requires, in order "to be effective, a large number of human eggs or oocytes. The process of obtaining these eggs, which is not without risk, would use women's bodies as mere reservoirs of oocytes, instrumentalising women and undermining their dignity."
To this, he said, must be added "the massive demand for human oocytes which would disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised women of the world, bringing a new type of injustice, victimisation and discrimination into existence".
He said the Holy See held that "only a comprehensive convention on human cloning, which would address all these issues and not just reproductive cloning, will be able to respond to the challenges of the 2Ist century on this issue".
The archbishop further warned that, while a partial agreement might address immediately some issues related to human cloning, it could generate more problems.
He suggested instead that research in "adult" stem cells is a "scientific way" of great hopes and a "moral and valid way" for the good of all, not just of some individuals.
Council plans family agency
THE PONTIFICAL. Council for the Family has proposed a new agency to monitor the family and offer new pastoral strategies and cultural resources.
It hopes the existence of a permanent observatory would help nuclear families to rediscover their identity and to thrive in Europe. "[The] observatory must be above all a service to the family and an effective instrument for the Church and for society," said Bishop Karl Josef Romer, secretary of the pontifical council.
It would gather "all useful information for promoting respect for life and the family," he added.
Communities signal hope
IN A DIVIDED world, religious communities are called to be a sign of hope, according to the Holy Father.
Communion among those who are consecrated "will be a powerful sign and source of hope for a world with exaggerated forms of individualism and social fragmentation," the Pope said when he received an audience the general chapter of the Order of Canons Regular of Premontre.
The Pope said that "consecrated life and its witness of the salvific message of Jesus Christ has had a fundamental role in the evangelisation of Europe and in the formation of its Christian identity."
"Europe continues to need the holiness, prophecy, evangelising activity and service of consecrated persons," he said.
St Norbert founded the order in the early 12th century, at the dawn of the great reform movement of the high Middle Ages.
Mother Teresa stamps issued
THE VATICAN is selling a special series of stamps to commemorate Mother Teresa of Calcutta's beatification on October 19. '
Mother Teresa is pictured in her unmistakable white sari with a blue border, her face leaning slightly forward, and her hands joined.
Fr Pierpaolo Francini, a director of the Vatican's Philatelic and Numismatic Office, explained that the series has, in addition to its religious and artistic value, a unique aspect for collectors.
It is a "a special stamp, different from others, as it has next to it another stamp of no value — in which five phrases of the future blessed appear," he said.
The choice of the phrases was left to the designer, the priest said. The phrases reflect Mother Teresa's work, her enormous charity and her humanitarian sense, he added.
The Vatican post office is considering a special postmark for the day of the beatification.
Media should 'enrich family'
POPE JOHN Paul 11 has chosen "The Media in the Family: A Risk and a Richness" as the theme of his message for World Communications Day 2004.
"The theme chosen by the Holy Father reflects his concern that the media should enrich family life and not damage it," said Archbishop John Foley. president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
He said the Pope was worried about pornography, materialism and violence.