Muslim Teacher in Italy Asked Not to Wear Head Scarf

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 26 — A kindergarten in Italy has asked a Muslim intern teacher to remove her head scarf because it says the scarf might frighten children.

The issue arose in late March after the Miele & Cri-Cri kindergarten said it would agree to accommodate the intern's schedule of prayers but asked if she would be willing to remove her head scarf.

The intern told the daily Rome newspaper La Repubblica on March 25 that she couldn't understand how the veil, which covers her head but not her face, could frighten anyone.

“Everybody must be allowed to freely profess their own faith, according to their own conscience, their own traditions,” Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the Pontifical Council of Legislative Texts, told La Repubblica.

In February, France's Lower House of Parliament voted to ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other religious apparel in public schools. The French government said the law was needed to ward off rising Islamic fundamentalism in that country.

Vietnamese Catholics Honor Martyred Priest

ASIA NEWS, March 30 — More than 30,000 Catholics, Protestants and non-Christians flocked to a Vietnamese parish on the anniversary of the death of Father Francois Xavier Truong Buu Diep, who was martyred March 12, 1946.

“I live among my flock and I will die among them. I will not go anywhere,” the priest said after being advised by a superior to flee the area, which had become unsafe due to political and religious conflicts.

Later, he and 30 other Catholics were captured by enemies and held in a rice paddy storehouse. The priest's body was later found in pond, though authorities do not agree on who killed him or why.

Nowadays, faithful come to visit the priest's grave and offer thanksgiving.

“Father Diep cured me soon after I visited his tomb,” said one 60-year-old pilgrim from Ho Chi Minh City. She had previously been unable to walk due to severe arthritis.

The local diocese officially recognized the church where Father Diep's tomb is located as a pilgrimage site in 1996.

Chile to Legalize Divorce

THE WASHINGTON POST, March 30 — After nine years of legislative debate, the Chilean Congress in March approved a bill to legalize divorce.

President Ricardo Lagos said he would sign the bill, which will go into effect in the fall. Chile had been one of only a handful of countries — others include Malta and the Philippines — where couples could not divorce.

The Post cited several stories of women who had been threatened or beaten by their estranged husbands and were waiting with “bated breath” to be able to divorce them. Separated women can't make a commercial transaction without the signature of their husband, the paper noted, nor do they have a right to alimony or child support.

With 73% of Chileans voicing support for divorce in a recent poll, the Catholic Church ran ad campaigns in support of keeping the ban on divorce. The ads cited U.S. statistics of drug abuse and delinquency among children of divorces.