Europe

Berlin awaits Old Rite parish
PLANS ARE afoot for the first Tridentine-rite parish in Germany, writes Bess livistonDavies.
The Oratory of St Philip Neri in Berlin will be run by Oratorian priests and Tridentinist clergy, becoming the only parish in Germany to provide Mass exclusively in the Old Rite.
The move is designed to attract schismatic followers of the Tridentinist archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back to the mainstream Church.
Already Cardinal George Sterzinsky has invited Fr Goesche, a Berlin-based Society of St Pius X priest, to say Mass in the Oratory, reported Tages Post, a German Catholic newspaper.
Vatican watchers suggest the plan is phase two of a scheme to reconcile Tridentinist schismatics with the mainstream church. It follows the success of the Apostolic Administration of Campos in North Brazil, the world's only Tridentine-rite diocese created in January 2002.
Previously, the bishop, 26 priests and 30,000 lay faithful of the Administration of St John Vianney had spent 21 years outside the Church. They left in 1981, when a new bishop in Campos ejected priests refu.sing to celebrate the New Rite from their parishes. In exile, Campos Catholics associated with the SSPX, followers of Archbishop Lefebvre.
The Pope is said to be keen to bring the Lefebyrisis back to the Church, having witnessed the piety of SSPX pilgrims visiting Rome in the Jubilee year 2000. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos is currently negotiating with members.
Activists defy Pope over Mass
A CATHOLIC lay organisation has shared Holy Communion with Lutherans despite a papal admonition against receiving communion in non-Catholic churches. Eva Maria Kiklaa, a leading member in Germany of the Catholic-based We are Church movement told reporters: "It is neither unique nor new for Christians to issue invitations to each other."
Her group, along with an ecumenical organisation, the Church from Beneath Initiative, held a Catholic Mass at a Lutheran church in the capital, followed by an open communion.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who heads the German bishops' conference, said he regretted that shared communions were planned.
He told reporters: "1 am convinced we can make progress on this, but it will take us a few years yet to agree on a joint communion."
Germany gives wine to Cuba
THE DIOCESE Of Trier in Germany has donated 1,200 bottles of communion wine at a cost of more than £6,400 to Cuba, writes Clare Chap man. • Priests in Cuba have run out of wine and a poor economy and embargoes placed on the Socialist country mean it is difficult to replace.
Germany's donation came following a plea from the Latin American charity Adveniat, which has an office in the German town of Essen.
The bottles of homegrown Mosel wine were transported from Germany to Barcelona on Monday, where they will then be shipped over to Cuba.
Actor takes on role of saint
SWASHBUCKLING French actor Gerard Depardieu has brought St Augustine of Hippo to the stage in Rome, reciting passages written by the philosopher and theologian.
He was continuing a world tour, after John Paul II told him that he saw many similarities between the actor and the saint who lived from 354 to 430 AD.
M Depardieu told Vatican Radio: "St Augustine goes beyond mere recitation; he carries one within to make one discover what he feels, his faith in life, the faith of experiencing that there is an Other."
The passages chosen by M Depardieu and introduced by Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, were reflections upon time, the space where God enters the history of man.
Orthodox hail church gift
A BULGARIAN bishop has welcomed progress towards unity between the Catholic and Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Bishop Dometian of Vidin said: "The question is now ripe, because the needs of the time are being anticipated. I think that the Orthodox Church, by its nature, faith and spirit, is very close to our brothers of the Catholic Church."
The Bulgarian Orthodox delegation visited Rome to inaugurate the liturgical use by the Orthodox community of the Church of SS Vincent and Anastasius, near the Trevi Fountain. The church was ceded to the Orthodox by John Paul II.
Bishop deplore treaty vote
CZECH bishops have said that the country's rejection of a treaty with the Vatican that would, among other things allow church marriages, was a display of lawmakers' ignorance of Church affairs.
In a statement, the bishops' conference said: "This development makes clear there is a great deal of ignorance, above all concerning canon law and the Catholic Church's international character."
On May 21, 110 of the 177 deputies present in the Czech lower house voted to block the treaty, saying it would have given the Catholic Church "unfair privileges".
Bishops press EU to recognise God
A SLOVAKIAN bishop has said the Church will continue to demand that Europe's Christian identity be recognised in a new European Union constitution, even though the word God has been dropped.
Bishop Frantisek Tondra of Spis, president of the Slovakian bishops' conference, said after the vote that the Church "wishes to go on positively to create the future of Slovakia and Europe".
Bush praises John Paul II
PRESIDENT George W Bush hailed Pope John Paul 11 as "one of the greatest moral leaders of our time" during a visit to Poland last weekend.
In a speech delivered at the historic Wawel Royal Castle, Krakow, Mr Bash paid tribute to the Pope's courage during the war years.
"A young seminarian, Karol Wojtyla, saw the swastika flag flying over the ramparts of Wawel Castle. He shared the suffering of his people and was put into forced labour. From this priest's experience and faith came a vision: that every person must be treated with dignity, because every person is known and loved by God.
"In time, this man's vision and this man's courage would bring fear to tyrants and freedom to his beloved country, and liberatiOn to half a continent. To this very hour, Pope John Paul II speaks for the dignity of every life and expresses the highest aspirations of the culture we share."