Documentary ‘Will Foster Inter-Christian Dialogue'

RIA NOVOSTI, Aug. 1 — Pilgrimage to the Eternal City, an Orthodox-Catholic film production about early Christians in ancient Rome, will help bring the two churches closer together, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church told the Russian news agency Novosti.

“Culture, education and the promotion of a religious worldview — these are spheres that will be of primary interest to different denominations and will stimulate their cooperation,” Moscow Patriarchy Press Officer Vladimir Vigilyansky said. “There aren't, and cannot be, any obstacles [to such cooperation].”

The documentary is being made at the suggestion of the Moscow Patriarchy's Orthodox Encyclopedia scholarly center. Its head, Sergei Kravets, quoted Patriarch Alexy II as saying that the film was intended as a joint creative response to the European Union authorities’ decision not to mention the Christian roots of European civilization in the European Union's Constitution.

The film is comprised of five parts, according to the report. The first three parts have already been filmed and are now being edited while the two concluding parts will be filmed in September and October, Kravets said. The release of the documentary is set for early 2006.

Church in Iraq Does Not Give in to Terrorism

ASIANEWS, Aug. 1 — Mosul's Chaldean community commemorated the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks that struck four churches in Baghdad and one in this northern Iraqi city, AsiaNews reported.

Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul celebrated Mass Aug.1 in the Church of St Paul — the church that was hit that day. A year ago to the day, the terrorists blew up a car full of explosive that killed two people at its entrance.

Archbishop Rahho proclaimed that every year on Aug. 1, the Parish of St Paul's Day, a memorial Mass will be celebrated to commemorate the attacks.

“The Church is much better today than before the attack,” the archbishop said in his homily. “That violence tested our faith, and in a year we have learned to put into practice values like forgiveness and love, even for those who persecute us.”

Minister Plans Rebate to Cut Abortion Rate

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, Aug. 3 — Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has indicated he wants to introduce a Medicare rebate that provides counseling for pregnant women in a bid to cut Australia's abortion rate, the Australian daily reported.

The federal president of the Australian Medical Association, Mukesh Haikerwal, said the AMA did not object to a rebate, as long as it was voluntary. “We want nothing forced upon people, but we can see the benefits of general counseling.”

“A situation where women are culturally conditioned to do one thing or another is not a real choice,” Abbott, a Catholic, said Aug. 2. “The fact that we have near enough to 100,000 abortions a year is a tragedy. I don't think anyone, whether they are pro-choice or pro-life, is happy about the vast number of abortions that currently take place in Australia and I think, as a society, it ought be possible to do better.”