King Juan Carlos Invites Pope Benedict to Spain

AKI, Sept. 5 — King Juan Carlos invited Pope Benedict XVI to Spain for the 2006 World Meeting of Families in Valencia, the website for AdKronosInternational reported.

The international meeting on family issues was originally convened by Pope John Paul II. It will be held in early July. The king presented the invitation on behalf of Premier Jose Luis Zapatero. Both Juan Carlos and Zapatero supported the homosexual “marriage” legislation that Spain passed in June. Spain became the third country to legalize homosexual unions.

Benedict XVI has spoken out against same-sex unions, although he hasn't specifically targeted the Spanish law, AKI reported. On June 6, he referred to homosexual “marriage” as anarchic “pseudo-matrimony.”

Paisley Demands End to Sectarian Attacks

BELFAST TELEGRAPH, Sept. 5 — Democratic Unionist Party leader Iain Paisley condemned sectarian attacks on Catholic homes in Antrim, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

Following weeks of sporadic petrol and paint bomb attacks on homes in Ballymena and nearby towns, Paisley, an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church, insisted convicting the culprits was the only solution.

“There is no excuse for it, it has to stop and I have made that clear in the recent attacks on Roman Catholic Church property in Ballymena.

Paisley said he had met with Catholics in Ballymena to discuss the sustained attacks. He also said he had visited staff at St Louis’ school in the town which was badly burnt in a gasoline bomb attack.

Paisley said, “What you have to do: We have to insist that both communities reveal to the police what they know; and the sooner people are charged and found guilty and imprisoned, if needs be — that will stop it; nothing else will stop it.”

Bishops Request Probe Into Priest's Murder

WEBINDIA123, Sept. 6 — The Catholic Bishop's Conference of India (CBCI) asked the Assam government to probe the murder of a 65-year-old priest in Tezpur, the wire service WebIndia reported.

The CBCI said the killing of Father Mathew Nellickal, the vicar general of Tezpur who was found dead Sept. 3, was yet another instance of increasing attacks on the Christian religious personnel across the country.

“The CBCI, the apex body of the Catholic Church in India, expresses its distress at the killing of a 65-year-old priest, who served in Tezpur for the last 30 years. We condemn the dastardly murder,” the bishops said in a press statement.

Bishop Percival Fernandes, the secretary general of CBCI, regretted that Church leaders were attacked in the northeast despite the “sterling development work they are doing in the area.”

Adoptions by Homosexuals Place Children ‘in Peril’

BBC NEWS, Sept. 4 — Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Scotland said proposals to allow homosexual couples to adopt would place children “in peril,” BBC News reported.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien said youngsters would be guinea pigs in a “distorted social experiment.” He said studies had suggested that drug use, homosexuality, stress and mental illness were more common among those raised by same-sex couples.

The Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland have both spoken out against the proposals, which were unveiled in June. People have until 31 October to have their say on the new legislation, which would allow unmarried and same-sex couples to adopt if they could prove that they were part of an enduring family relationship.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Cardinal O'Brien accepted that the current adoption system was failing children. He urged Catholic families to come forward, predicting that if they did so there would be no need to widen the definition of those able to adopt.

“We ignore a wealth of global evidence and place innumerable children in peril if we forget certain immutable truths; children need a male and a female role model in a permanent relationship,” he said. “Scotland's adopted children must not become guinea pigs in some distorted social experiment aimed at redefining marriage, subverting the family and threatening the good of society.”