World Media Watch
Rich-Poor Gap Widening, Korean Bishop Warns
UCANEWS, Dec. 11, — Bishop Boniface Choi Ki-san said the gulf between
the rich and the poor is widening in
Bishop Choi, who heads the Committee for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, highlighted the issue of socioeconomic polarization in his message for Human Rights Sunday.
“Despite the situation, neo-liberalism has been pursued blindly, putting stress on the labor market’s flexibility, and it has resulted in six or seven out of 10 workers in the country becoming non-regular contract workers,” he said.
Bishop Choi reiterated in his message that the Church has a preferential option for the poor and asks Christians to pray more earnestly for and do their best to help people in need. The bishop warned that economic disparity and a community’s reluctance to aid its underprivileged members could result in social disharmony. He called on the government to ensure that none of its policies require the sacrifice of people’s basic rights.
Cardinal: Non-Christians Have Different View of God
REUTERS, Dec. 11 — German Cardinal
Joachim Meisner of
The cardinal and his aides spent the days leading up to Christmas explaining they have nothing against children of all faiths getting together to sing carols around a tree or act out the Nativity story. But they should not say any prayer together.
Catholic children will be confused
if they also say a prayer with Muslims, who have a different view of God,
Cardinal Meisner said. On his recent visit to
“The image of God in non-Christian religions is not identical with the God who is Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the cardinal said in a statement. “So each community can only pray alone to its God. If this happens in a mixed setting, one group has to stand by silently while the other prays.”
Catholic Clergy Attack Telethon Over Stem-Cell Aid
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Dec. 8 — Church officials in
The 34-hour telethon, shown on national television, raised more than $138 million in donations last year. And one of the projects it funds is research on embryonic stem cells, which received $2 million.
“For us, these embryos are not
things, but human beings,” Cardinal Philippe Barbarin,
the archbishop of
“French bishops who have spoken about the telethon have all praised this work of generosity and solidarity,” the bishops’ conference said in a statement. “None of them has called for a boycott of the telethon. Quite the contrary.”
Cardinal Barbarin also made that point, saying , “Kids must continue to break their piggy banks for the disabled.”
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- December 24- January 6, 2006