THURSDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2005
THE PARISH. THE NATION. THE WORLD. soon to be on the Web
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Radioactive friars?: Tune in to a heavenly radio frequency Page 5
Strength in Suffering: a message for the World Day of the Sick Page 2
Great!: Tarleah Thomas on a Marriage Encounter weekend Page 6
Bishops welcome Iraq vote n By Carol Glatz
ROME (CNS) -- Every Iraqi who cast a vote on Jan. 30 amid continued chaos and violence showed that democracy will win over terrorism, said a top Iraqi church official. “This is a big lesson to terrorism, a great message that says we are not afraid” and “we will rebuild our country,” said Father Philip Najim, the Rome-based representative of the Chaldean-rite Baghdad Patriarchate. The greater-than-expected voter turnout is “a positive sign” as it marks a turning point in Iraq’s future, he said. “It shows the whole world how educated the Iraqi people are and that we are capable of reaching freedom and democracy,” the Iraqiborn priest told Catholic News Service on January 31. Even if polling in some places proved less than perfect, “the most important thing is that the people went; they went despite the violence, the fear and terrorism,” he said. Millions of Iraqis cast their votes on January 30 in the country’s first democratic election in decades. They voted for a 275-member transitional National Assembly that will eventually choose a new government that will, in turn, elect the country’s president and prime minister. But despite clampeddown security and a daylong ban on most traffic, some 44 people were killed on January 30 after insurgents carried out a string of attacks and suicide bombings. Continued on Page 13
Marriage cannot be dissolved
Sr Caritas: a life of love
Pope asks Church courts not to undermine teachings on marriage ■ By Cindy Wooden
A marriage cannot be declared invalid simply because the couple feels unable to reconcile and continue living together, Pope John Paul II said. “Acquiescence to interests foreign to the search for truth” is unjust, undermines Church teaching on the indissolubility of Continued on page 4
Mother's love Vatican praises woman who refused cancer treatment to save child
Sister Caritas and Sister Bertwina pictured at work in their priory's vegetable garden in July 2003.
■ By Carol Glatz ■ By Martin Nesirky
One of the last two German nuns who endured years in communist North Korean camps was buried on January 26 after
a service attended by deaf-mute people she helped during more than sixty years on the peninsula. The two sisters were reported on by The Record in mid-2003. Sister Caritas died unexpect-
edly but peacefully on Monday January 24 whispering “Guardian angel, guardian angel”, the head of her priory, Sister Gertrude, told Reuters. Sister Caritas was 91. Her story spans Hitler’s Continued on page 4
The Vatican praised an Italian woman who sacrificed her life for her unborn child, calling it an act of “love and faith.” A 41-year-old woman from northern Italy died on Jan. 24 from Continued on page 3
SECRETS OF THE VATICAN Robert Duncan interviews JOHN ALLEN, the US National Catholic Reporter’s world-renowned journalist, on understanding the Vatican and his new book.
Pages 7-9
FASTING & REPENTANCE Archbishop Barry Hickey has issued a Pastoral Letter for Lent, appealing for Catholics to take the Church’s laws on abstinence and fasting seriously.
Page 3
INDEX Bishop Sproxton on Marriage I say, I say The World Fatherhood Classifieds
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