Gloria TV News on the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul.

The Pope is Austrian

USA

Father Mark Massa, the head of Jesuit Fordham University’s theology department ended an interview by calling Pope Benedict an Austrian. Father Massa rewrote the pope’s biography in an interview with the Religion News Service. The News Service talked to him about his book The American Catholic Revolution: How the '60s Changed the Church Forever. Fr Massa used Benedict’s origins to explain his support for liturgical reform as “partly personal preference.” Massa said: He “likes looking back to the past. He likes the smells and bells. I do, too. I suspect there's more to it than that, but I don't know.” David Mills commented in “First Things”: ”Nice of him to suspect that this profound theologian and author of a number deep studies of the liturgy might push for changes for reasons other than nostalgia and personal preference.”

Fighting for Religious Education

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Orthodox clergymen and believers marched on September 24 to voice their support for the introduction of a mandatory religion course in schools. They submitted a petition to that end in Parliament and to the Government. The Holy Synod's petition bemoaned moral decadence. It asked that children are protected from it through educational means. They called on the state to "fulfill its duty to future generations and put in place legislative changes towards the mandatory study of the subject of religion." The proposal envisioned the study of Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic Christianity or Islam.

Dressing Code in Irish Schools

Ireland

Catholic Secondary Schools’ Teachers in Ireland have been told in guidelines that Muslims would not be permitted to wear the niqab, the garment covering the entire body except for slits across the eyes. The guidance, circulated by bishops among more than 450 schools this week, said that staff should respect the religious rights of non-Catholics. It was, however, "unsatisfactory for a teacher not to be able to see and engage properly with a pupil whose face was covered". But "no pupil or staff member should be prevented from wearing a religious symbol or garment in accordance with their tradition, for example, the headscarf for Muslim girls and the turban for Sikh boys," said the document. The Irish guidelines, like those published in England and Wales in 2008, also recommend that places be set aside in schools were Muslim pupils can pray daily.

There is major anti-clericalism in Europe

France

Bernard-Henri Lévy, a well-known French left-wing atheist said in an interview that Catholicism is by far the most attacked religion in Europe. He also noted it was unfortunate that so many injustices are committed against Benedict XVI. “The Pope’s voice is extremely important,” Levy told Spanish newspaper ABC last week. “We are very unjust to this Pope. I am not Catholic, but I think there is prejudice and especially major anti-clericalism that is taking on enormous proportions in Europe.”