March 17 | 0 COMMENTS print
Cross Wires: Thursday breaking news
Celebrations in Ireland (St Patrick, a Scot) and Italy (unification) but warnings and troubled times in Japan, Malta and Australia... Plus Holy Father prepares for beatification and Portsmouth bishop's retirement plan.
Messages for St Patrick’s Day 2011: from Bishop Séamus Hegarty, chairman of the Bishops’ Council for Emigrants…
… and from Irish bishops.
http://www.zenit.org/index.php?l=english
The Jock’s on us — St Patrick t is really a Scot
Irish church still vibrant, says Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.
http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/storyworldnew-new.aspx?action=9664
Church plays a special role in Italy, says Pope Benedict XVI in a message to Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano, timed for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9622
François-Marie Lethel explains what he is saying to the Pope in spiritual retreat, a way to prepare for the beatification of John Paul II.
Japanese bishops to set up centre to coordinate operations in Sendai.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101047.htm
Earthquake prompts regional détente, led by bishops.
http://www.cathnewsindia.com/2011/03/15/earthquake-prompts-regional-detente/
Malta to hold a divorce referendum on May 28. Pope Benedict XVI during a visit last April praised Malta’s stance divorce, one of only two countries in the world whose laws do not permit divorce.
http://www.montrealgzette.com/life/Malta+hold+divorce+referendum/4451136/story.html#ixzz1GoMHRwZx
Cardinal Raymond Burke addresses cultural crisis while in Australia.
http://www.zenit.org/article-32035?l=english
Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth plans to retire following his 75th birthday later this year.
http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/bishop-to-retire-37702.aspx
—Cross Wires is the Scottish Catholic Observer newspaper’s blog