L NEWS IN BRIEF

No to incest
THE CHURCH in Columbia has attacked a proposal by the country's Constitutional Court to legalize incest. Alberto Franco. the lawyer who forwarded the request said incest "is a moral problem and not a legal one", and insisted most children would be protected by the existing laws against rape. The Church responded: "Considering and punishing incest as a crime is a way to protect the family, protect minors, and provide legal support to a human principle based on common sense."
Pilgrims blocked
VIETNAMESE authorities have clamped down on an annual national Marian pilgrimage. This years pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of La Vang, planned for August 13, marks the 200th anniversary of a marian apparition. The Vietnamese government announced its intention to restrict the gathering of an expected 120,000 for "security reasons". Police are trying to dissuade pilgrims from travelling and tourist agencies have been ordered not to assist them.
Arafat request
YASSAR ARAFAT urged Muslim countries to support the Christian and Muslim presence in Jerusalem this week. The Palestinian president said more money was needed to safeguard a multiethnic Jerusalem. He said the Israeli government's plan to extend the boundary of Jerusalem would "ruin' the peace process.
Indonesian abuses
THE CHURCH in Hong Kong has written to the Indonesian prime minister to protest against violence attacks on ethnic Chinese citizens during the May riots. The letter to prime minister Habibie criticises "brutal sexual and racist violence against Indonesian women of Chinese origin" and urges the government to punish the perpetrators and provide free medical help to the victims.
Missionary deaths
THE Pon decried the recent wave of violence against missionaries in an address to pilgrims at the Vatican last week. Within the space of a few days, five priests and religious were killed in two continents. Last Monday, three Sisters of Charity were murdered in Yemen and a French Jesuit was killed in Congo-Brazzaville. The day before a German nun was shot to death in South Africa. "We pray for this witness to the Gospel," said the Holy Father, "and all other victims of violence who in different parts of the world give their blood."
Turkish minority
TLRKEY'S exclusion from the European Union has created problems for its Christian minority, the Catholic bishop of Anatolia said last week. The Italian Capuchin, Bishop Ruggero Franceschini said that political Islam would continue to spread unless Turkey was accepted into the EU. He said Turkey's 7,000 Catholics continued to face difficulties with militant Islamists.
Groer to return
THE DISGRACED Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer will soon return to Austria, a Viennese newspaper reported last week. According to Groer's private secretary. Michael Dinhobl. the Cardinal plans to end his "exile" in Germany. The former Archbishop of Vienna fled to a monastery in Dresden earlier this year, shortly before the Pope's visit.
Cook freed
MARGARITA LOPEZ, the former housekeeper of the murdered Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, was released from prison this week, according to a Guatemalan newspaper.
Lopez was arrested on July 22 and accused of complicity in Bishop Gerardi's murder. Fr Mario Orantes, who is charged with the murder, is still detained despite protests from the Archbishop of Guatemala City, who described the arrests as a "conspiracy" against the Church. Bishop Gerardi was brutally killed on April 26. two days after he published a report on human rights abuses during the country's civil war.