The Diocese of Cordoba in southern Spain has rejected local government demands that the city’s unique cathedral (above) should be recognised as public property and shared with Muslims.
The cathedral is said to stand on the site of a sixth-century Visigothic church that was converted into a mosque in the eighth century. Following the expulsion of the Muslims from southern Spain, the mosque was re-converted into a church by King Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236. It was dedicated as a cathedral in 1523.
The city council argues that the cathedral “never belonged” to the Church and should be re-registered as a civic building.
In reaction, the diocese said in a statement: “We call on politicians and institutions to show responsibility and not to feed this false controversy, which merely fuels division.”
State pledge to Ukraine Church
Ukraine’s President has promised state protection to the priests and laity of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church, independent of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Self-governing status is being sought for the Ukrainian Church from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who has indicated that this will be granted soon despite opposition from the Russian Church.
President Petro Poroshenko said: “The Ecumenical Patriarch’s representatives have assured me that the process of granting autocephaly is nearing completion – I’m certain we’ve wound the wheel of this story so far that it cannot now be turned back.
“Our state will respect the choice of those who decide to stay in the church structure which retains unity with the Russian Orthodox Church. But I also guarantee the state will protect the rights of the priests and laity who voluntarily resolve to stop being under Moscow and create a unified church.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry is backing plans for a massive Orthodox military basilica to hold 6,000 worshippers. According to the ministry: “This will become a spiritual and educational centre for servicemen, Orthodox clergy and Russian citizens. It will house an exposition on the history of the Russian state’s foundation with its military forces, and will have several altars dedicated to our armed services’ heavenly protectors”.
Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have launched a campaign to put pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to secure the unconditional release of Christian captives held by Islamist Boko Haram terrorists. The bishops’ campaign highlights the plight of a 15-year-old student by way of example. Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped in February in Dapchi, is said to be still a prisoner because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Boko Haram abducted more than 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014. More than 100 of them are still missing.
The most senior Catholic cleric in Korea has welcomed the new “denuclearisation” accord signed in Pyongyang by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, said he was “very pleased and inspired by the joint declaration”.
European Parliament members have praised the Catholic Church in Kosovo for helping to protect religious rights in the mainly Muslim Balkan country, a decade after it declared its independence from Serbia. “Religious freedom is exemplary here and makes an important contribution to peaceful coexistence,” Lukas Mandl, an Austrian MEP, told Kathpress news agency. He was speaking after representing Austria, which holds the EU presidency, at a joint session of the European Parliament with the parliament of Kosovo.
‘Oasis of hope’ in Texas
More than 3,000 Hispanic Catholic leaders, clergy and laity gathered in Grapevine, Texas, last weekend for the fifth national meeting. The aim of this “Encuentro” was to explore issues facing Hispanic ministry, and enthuse its leaders.
The first national Encuentro was held in Washington DC in 1972. They have been held intermittently since. The last one was in 2000. “It certainly was an oasis of hope,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who helped to organise the first Encuentro, told The Tablet.
Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo are calling for the international monitoring of the national elections that are due to take place in December.
A delegation led by Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa last week met Zambia’s President, Edgar Lungu, who chairs the Southern African Development Community’s Troika on Politics, Security and Defence.
The bishops told Mr Lungu: “We believe that with your SADC colleagues, you can help the Congolese people [to hold] a worthy, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful election on 23 December.”
DRC President Joseph Kabila said he will not stand in the long-delayed elections but has named Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, his former interior minister, as his favoured candidate. Mr Shadary was instrumental in the violent suppression of protests last year.
The Justice and Peace Commission of the bishops in Pakistan is urging the new government to honour the vision of the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, that Pakistan should be tolerant of religious minorities.
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar has appeared in court in India after being arrested over allegations that he repeatedly sexually abused a nun at a convent in Kerala between 2014 and 2016. The Vatican allowed Bishop Mulakkal, 54, to step down temporarily from his post in the diocese. He was subsequently arrested and magistrates in Pala have remanded him in police custody. He has denied the allegations. See Astrid Lobo Gajiwala
Priest seized
An Italian priest kidnapped last week in the south of Niger, near the border with Burkina Faso, is the second European to be abducted in the West African country this year.
Fr Pier Luigi Maccalli of the Society of African Missions (SMA) was taken in Makalondi, about 80 miles from the capital. Western powers have deployed thousands of troops in the semi-arid Sahel region to combat a growing Islamist threat.