News/International

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - The Gaza Strip increasingly is looking like “a big concentration camp” while egoism, hatred, poverty and injustice are fueling the continual slaughter in the Holy Land, said a top Vatican official.

“We are seeing a continual massacre in the Holy Land where the overwhelming majority has nothing to do with the conflict, but it is paying for the hatred of a few with their lives,” said Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

{mosimage}WASHINGTON - The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has pledged that he and his fellow prelates will work with the incoming administration of Barack Obama and the 111th Congress to "advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all, especially the vulnerable and poor."

In a Jan. 13 letter to the president-elect, Chicago Cardinal Francis George offered a broad outline of policy priorities that concern the U.S. bishops, ranging from economic recovery that covers all segments of society to protecting the lives of the "most vulnerable and voiceless members of the human family," especially unborn children. A corresponding letter was sent to Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and each member of Congress.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Catholic aid agencies have raised concerns about Gaza’s civilian population as war rages between Israel and Hamas.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and Catholic Near East Welfare Association Canada have echoed Pope Benedict XVI’s call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire.

{mosimage}ROME - The Vatican is concerned about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's positions on the family and on the unborn, but it looks forward with hope to his presidency fostering more attention to the poor and easing violence around the globe, said retired Cardinal Pio Laghi.

As Obama prepares for his inauguration on Jan. 20, Vatican observers are watching carefully to see which way his administration will go on issues close to the heart of Christians.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - As fighting continued in the Gaza Strip, Pope Benedict XVI urged Israelis and Palestinians to end the violent, armed clashes and start peace talks.

“Hatred and the rejection of dialogue bring nothing but war,” he said after reciting the Angelus Jan. 6 with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY  - Building peace and eradicating poverty demand an overhaul of shortsighted financial policies and unjust economic and social structures, Pope Benedict XVI said.

In his annual message for the Jan. 1 celebration of the World Day of Peace, the Pope said “peace can be built only if everyone is assured the possibility of reasonable growth: Sooner or later, the distortions produced by unjust systems have to be paid for by everyone.”

The world of finance and commerce need global governance and a new ethical approach that can ensure that investments and development truly contribute to the common good and peace in the world, he said.

{mosimage}WASHINGTON - More Americans are losing jobs, and Catholic agencies are trying their best to tide them over until they find new work.

The United States shed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in any single month in 34 years. The national unemployment rate climbed to 6.7 per cent in December, a 15-year high, up from 6.5 per cent in October.

{mosimage}CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe must be forced to step down, said the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference.

"It is now time to isolate Mugabe completely and to remove all forms of moral, material or tacit support for him and his party," the conference said in a Dec. 18 statement issued by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, conference spokesman.

{mosimage}WASHINGTON - Cardinal Avery Dulles, a Jesuit theologian who was made a cardinal in 2001, died Dec. 12 at the Jesuit infirmary in New York. A cause of death was not released but he had been in poor health. At 90, Cardinal Dulles had been the oldest living U.S. cardinal.

His death "brings home to God a great theologian and a totally dedicated servant of the church," said Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. bishops.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI asked the world’s Catholics to join prayers with “our Orthodox brothers and sisters” for the peaceful repose of the soul of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow died Dec. 5 at his home outside the Russian capital. He was 79. A funeral service was held at Christ the Saviour Cathedral on Dec. 9. A Vatican delegation led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, attended the funeral.