6 Headlines You May Have Missed (21 November)

News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 21 November.

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•    Vatican hosts landmark interfaith colloquium on the complementarity of man and woman

•   An attack on worshippers in Holy Land sparks renewed cries for peace

• Married men may now be ordained priests for Eastern churches in Western countries

• Controversial ‘Zoe’s Law’ Bill lapses without a vote

• Polish Catholic is honoured in Canberra for his bravery during the Holocaust

• Bishop Peter Comensoli appointed to Broken Bay

TRANSCRIPT

BOBBIE: A landmark international colloquium has wrapped up this week in Rome, bringing together representatives from 14 religious traditions and 23 countries to discuss the theme ‘the complimentarity of man and woman’.

The Humanum Colloquium was hosted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican from 17-19 November. It featured presentations and witness testimonies from religious leaders and scholars, as well as a series of short films prepared on the topic.

Pope Francis gave the Colloquium’s opening address, emphasising the vital role of family in building healthy societies.

“Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity,” Pope Francis said.

“That is why I stressed in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium that the contribution of marriage to society is “indispensable”; that it “transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple.” (n. 66) And that is why I am grateful to you for your Colloquium’s emphasis on the benefits that marriage can provide to children, the spouses themselves, and to society,” he said.

Former Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth Jonathan Sachs also addressed the conference, reflecting on the situation in Britain where soon more than 50% of children will be born outside of marriage.

RABBI SACHS: The result of this has been a measurable rise among young people in eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, suicide attempts and other stress-related symptoms. Three million children are living in Britain, in an affluent society, in this new form of poverty of single parent families, and it’s women who are bearing the burden because they are the heads of 92% of those families. In Britain today, one million children will grow up never knowing or meeting their father…

BOBBIE: Pope Francis also used the opportunity to confirm he will attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia next year.

More on that story via Catholic Vote, news.va, and the Humanum website.

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At least four people were killed and six others wounded in an attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem Tuesday morning. Vatican Radio has that report.

VATICAN RADIO: Police say the suspects in the attack were a pair of Palestinians wielding knives and axes, and that they shot and killed the suspected assailants inside the synagogue.

The city of Jerusalem