WORLD - Catholic Church organizes relief in Gujrat, India; British Parliament legalizes embryo cloning; - Vatican, Anglicans form new working group; Sri Lanka church blasted; Vatican City state consitution revised; - Polish priest faces extradition for fraud; Religious freedom panel urges focus on Sudan - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 9, 2001 by Gill Donovan

A newly built Catholic church in Hulandawa, southern Sri Lanka, suffered extensive damage after a gang of eight detonated explosives there early morning Jan. 22. The attackers planted dynamite at the four corners of the church and assaulted Br. Sampath Wilegoda, who was residing in the church compound.

Police arrested two suspects Jan. 27, one of whom Wilegoda identified as one of his attackers. In the meantime police are guarding the church, which did not collapse despite the dynamite blast.

The incident is not the first time a church in Hulandawa has been attacked. Two earlier churches were destroyed by unknown assailants.

On the night of Jan. 24, a group of Buddhist monks and armed persons erected a Buddha statue near the National Seminary of Our Lady of Lanka in Ampitiya, near Kandy, central Sri Lanka.

The statue is reported to be on land belonging to the Kandy diocese at the main entrance to the national seminary, a parish church and several religious houses. Police were informed of the incident, but on arrival are reported to have judged the situation too tense for action.

Vatican City State constitution revised

Pope John Paul II has signed Vatican City State's first new constitution in 72 years, abolishing on paper practices and traditions already ruled out by previous popes, including use of the death penalty.

The revised "basic law" of the 108.7-acre state confirms that the pope is the sovereign of the state and governs it with full power. The law refers to the governance of Vatican territory, not the governance of the Roman Catholic church.

The new text envisions a closer working relationship between the government of Vatican City State, headed by U.S. Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka, and the Vatican Secretariat of State, the office that maintains relations with other nations, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. "The new basic law does not make any mention of the death penalty," he said.

In 1969, Pope Paul VI formally banned the use of the death penalty in Vatican City State, although no one had been executed under the authority of the Vatican's temporal governance since 1870, when the state included Rome and surrounding territories.

In the late 1800s, murderers and brigands -- members of roving bands of thieves -- were the criminals most commonly subject to capital punishment in the lands under papal governance as well as throughout Europe. The existing basic law dates back to 1929, when the Italian government recognized the independence of Vatican City State.

Polish priest fares extradition for fraud

A Polish priest faces extradition to Austria for allegedly misappropriating $1.3 million while using fake letters from his archbishop. Meanwhile, a bishop testified against another priest who had run up unsecured debts of $2 million.

The prosecutor's office in the central city of Lodz, Poland, said it was awaiting a court order for the extradition of Fr. Wiktor Dudzinski on charges of embezzling 20 million Austrian shillings, equivalent to $1.3 million, while working in the country.