WORLD

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 29, 2000 by Teresa Malcolm

Restrict immigration to Catholics, cardinal says

A prominent Italian cardinal's proposal that his country restrict immigration to Catholics has produced a cautious welcome from some church officials, but strong denunciations in other quarters.

Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 72, of Bologna, made the suggestion in a "pastoral note" Sept. 13. Biffi recounted a conversation he had recently with an Italian politician, in which he said it would spare the Italian people "many sufferings" if only Catholics were allowed to settle.

"We bishops will criticize you, we'll say, `You have to be more open,'" Biffi said he told the politician. "But you, as laity, should ignore our protests and look out for the true welfare of Italy."

Biffi argued that Catholicism has formed the national culture, and warned that in the future Europe as a whole must either recover its Christian roots or become Muslim.

Bishop Alfredo Maria Garsia, president of the immigration commission within the Italian Bishops' Conference, welcomed the suggestion. "Since it's not possible to allow everyone in the country ... it would be preferable to permit those who create fewer problems," he said. The Vatican's powerful Secretary of State Angelo Sodano denied that Biffi was asking for an "indiscriminate exclusion" of immigrants, but called his words "wise, very wise."

Others were quick to reject the proposal. A spokesperson for the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio said that the idea that Muslim immigrants are overrunning Italy is false. The country's minister for social solidarity, Livia Turco, told a Roman newspaper that "building walls against Islam is irresponsible," and that it "doesn't do justice to a pope who has been professing ecumenism."

World Bank promises credit to combat AIDS in Africa

The World Bank said Sept. 12 that it plans to extend a $500 million credit line to help combat the AIDS crisis in African countries.

"Last April we promised that no sensible AIDS program in Africa would want for funding," said World Bank President James Wolfensohn in a statement, Reuters reported. "Today we deliver on that promise. We hope this program will help break the silence and inspire every country that needs help to ask for it."

Kenya and Ethiopia will receive about $110 million immediately, the bank announced. In order to become eligible for World Bank funds, countries must be capable of distributing funds directly to communities, the private sector and civil societies, and must prove that they have drafted a "strategic approach" to combating AIDS. Countries that are not poor enough to qualify for World Bank concessionary loans are not eligible for the money.

"One of the most important features of the [program] is the participation of communities and of associations of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the design and implementation of activities at the village level," said the statement. "The program will channel resources directly to them and help finance their own local initiatives in response to the epidemic."

The bank also intends to ask its board of directors to approve loans and credit lines worth as much as $100 million to help fight AIDS in Caribbean countries, whose AIDS infection rates are second only to sub-Saharan Africa among nations worldwide.

British archbishop weighs in on case of twins

In a submission to the Court of Appeal in the "tragic and heartrending case" of the conjoined twins born at Manchester on Aug. 8, Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster said there were "overarching" moral considerations why the parents' wishes should be respected and no operation to separate the twins should go ahead.

It is widely assumed that if the operation to separate the twins were performed, one of them would die.

The Court of Appeal began heating the case on Sept. 4, following the decision of a High Court judge that the parents' wishes should be overruled and the twins should be separated even though this meant one of them would die. The court is expected to give its verdict Sept. 22.

O'Connor asked, "whether, were Jodie [one of the twins] to survive separation, subsequent surgical and other care for her would impose excessive burdens both on Jodie and on the parents."

The archbishop said, "Though the Court should recognize the lethal consequence for Mary of separation surgery as a decisive reason for respecting parental refusal of consent to it, weight should also be given to the likely burdensome consequences of surgery for Jodie and her parents."

Church pledges `symbolic' payment to forced laborers

Church leaders in Austria agreed to support a government fund for compensating forced laborers from World War II.

However, a spokesman said donations would be "symbolic only" and stressed that research was needed to determine how many foreign workers were used in Catholic institutions.

"The Catholic church was one of the most important victims of the German regime in Austria, but we also share responsibility for our history," said Erich Leitenberger, spokesman for the Vienna archdiocese.