Italian Embassy Hosts First Mass in Afghanistan

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Jan. 27 — Italian, British and French soldiers gathered at the Italian embassy in Kabul Jan. 27 for the first Mass in Afghanistan since 1993, the news service reported.

The Mass was offered in the embassy courtyard because the chapel, the only one in Afghanistan, was too small to accommodate the 60 soldiers from the International Security Assistance Force. Father Ivan Lai, who celebrated the liturgy, planted a wooden cross in a garden where the altar was set up.

The chapel will hold services every Sunday for all Christians in Kabul, Agence France Presse reported. During the Taliban era, three Little Sisters of Jesus who remained in the Afghan capital went to the chapel each Friday to pray. They also took refuge in the building during the U.S. bombardments in the campaign to hunt down terror suspect Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.

American Surrogate Mother Gives Birth to Italians' Twins

AP WORLDSTREAM, Jan. 26 — The Italian minister of health has ordered a study that may lead to an ordinance against exporting embryos for implantation in surrogate mothers, the news service reported.

Girolamo Sirchia ordered the study after an American woman gave birth to twins conceived by a couple in Rome.

The genetic mother of the twins born in the United States had her uterus removed in 1993 because of a tumor, according to Italian media. Her eggs were fertilized with her husband's sperm, and the embryos were then frozen. Five embryos were flown two years ago to a surrogate mother center at an unidentified location in the United States.

Sirchia said the Italian Parliament would start debate in March on a law to regulate artificial procreation.

Cathedral Dedicated in Formerly Communist Albania

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 26 — Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, has dedicated a new cathedral in Tirana, Albania's capital. The new church seats 700 and is the country's second cathedral.

“It was very important to build this cathedral in Tirana,” said Cardinal Sodano, who celebrated a Mass Jan. 26 with Archbishop Rrok Mirdita of Tirana. “This is a historic day for Albanian Catholic believers.”

Practically all Albanian cathedrals were destroyed under the former communist regime, and Albanian authorities shot and imprisoned hundreds of priests. Only the Cathedral in Shkodra, 52 miles north of Tirana, was left standing, though used as a sports stadium.