Russian Patriarch: Rome Is ‘Expansionist’

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 18 — Hopes for a papal meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II seemed to fade last week as the Moscow prelate made bitter public complaints against what he called the “expansionist” actions of Latin-rite Catholics in Russia.

Patriarch Alexei gave an interview to the magazine Famiglia Cristiana, in which he related a list of grievances. He said Roman Catholics behave as if “there exists neither a church nor a Christian culture in Russia,” pursuing a “vast expansionist strategy for Russia.”

Meanwhile, pressure by the Russian government on Catholic priests and laity continued, in what Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz has called a “large-scale anti-Catholic campaign.” He noted that five foreign-born priests had been expelled from the country, numerous churches had been vandalized and construction permits for new parishes had been denied.

According to Associated Press, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters that the expulsion of priests was tantamount to a persecution of the Church.

Musical Dialogue Bridges Christian-Muslim Divide

>FIDES NEWS, Sept. 23 — Even as attacks on Christians by Islamic militants continue in Pakistan, clergy of the two faiths seek to promote peace, according to a report by Fides, the Vatican's missionary news agency.

Addressing a Christian-Muslim program of “Interreligious Dialogue Through Music,” Bishop Andrew Francis, ecumenical officer of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said, “We are a people of hope in the present-day situation of hatred, intolerance and killing.”

Recalling incidents of violence and killing of Christians in the last 12 months in Pakistan, the bishop urged media figures to use their public platform to promote values of brotherhood and respect among members of different religions.

United States Helped Iraq With Biological Weapons

THE BUFFALO NEWS, Sept. 23 — Some 16 years ago, when Iraq was still considered a somewhat disreputable American ally, the U.S. government allowed American pharmaceutical companies to sell Saddam Hussein's government biological cultures that can be used for bio-weapons, according to The Buffalo News, citing 1994 testimony to a U.S. Senate committee.

These germs included West Nile Virus, E. coli, anthrax, botulism and other potentially fatal biological cultures. The Commerce Department under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush permitted at least 72 such sales between 1985 and 1989.

These germ cultures, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later noted had “biological warfare significance,” also included clones, substances and chemicals that could devastate wheat crops, cause rickets and produce a nerve gas much more lethal than sarin — the gas used on the Japanese subway by cult members some years ago.

The testimony was given to the Senate Banking Committee during hearings concerning the poor health of returning Gulf War veterans. The Buffalo News questioned whether Saddam still possessed the materials and whether they might be used against invading U.S. troops.