Posts From Erich Leitenberger
EN | IT – Europe looks at Pope Francis, who tomorrow will speak to the European Parliament in Strasbourg and then also in front of the Council of Europe. Already before the event there has been much speculation about the topics that the Pope will address. Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, hinted that for Pope Francis issues of solidarity are primarily important: with the unemployed young, with single mothers, with the elderly and the disabled, but especially with those people who are looking for “new opportunities outside their country”, that is the refugees who were already the subject of the first papal visit to Lampedusa.
EN | DE | IT – This July 28, 2014, was a day of deep mourning – the hundredth anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war against Serbia, which triggered the First World War, the “seminal catastrophe” of the twentieth century. In recent months, much has been written and discussed on this July 28, 1914 (although very little about the war of the “central powers” in Serbia, which – in terms of percentage – had the highest rate of losses of the First World War, with its 1.1 million victims – including military and civilian).
EN | DE | IT – Pope Francis chose a special place to rouse Europe from its torpor: St. Mary’s Basilica in Trastevere, where the Community of Sant’Egidio attends its services. In simple words, Pope Francis called the European malaise by its name: “People that do not watch over their elderly, do not care about their youths, are people without a future, people without hope”. Because “youths – children, young people in general – and the elderly bring history forward”.
EN | DE | IT – Pope Francis goes on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the real reason being the common prayer with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the highest representatives of orthodoxy. 50 years ago Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I met as brothers in the episcopate in Jerusalem, after centuries of separation between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. It was an emotion which was felt all over the world. With the meeting in January 1964 doors were opened, which the events and changes in the church and in the world politics could close anymore. What will the meeting between the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch at the place of the suffering and resurrection of Christ bring this time? A decisive bold step forwards on the road to restoration of Christian unity?
EN | DE | IT – The Austrian Catholic bishops have called for participation in the elections and recalled that the European Union – a brainchild of Christian motivated politicians – needs the cooperation of the people and the commitment of Christians. The bishops specified a number of challenges that await the newly elected European parliamentarians
