IN BRIEF

ARCHBISHOP GIOVANNI LAJOLO, SECRETARY FOR RELATIONS WITH STATES,  spoke yesterday afternoon at the 12th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria on December 6-7. All the foreign ministers from the 55 member countries of the organization were invited to the meeting. Archbishop Lajolo spoke about "security, migration and religious non-discrimination." Among other things, he affirmed that "the position of the Holy See is well-known: terrorism will only be effectively confronted through a concerted multilateral action that respects the 'ius gentium'." 

THE HOLY FATHER'S MESSAGE FOR THE 2005 WORLD DAY OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES, focuses on the theme of "Intercultural Integration" and will be presented on Thursday, December 9 at 11:30 a.m. in the Holy See Press Office. This world day will be observed January 16, 2005. Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, Archbishop Marchetto and Fr. Michael Blume, S.V.D., respectively president, secretary and under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, will speak at the presentation.

CARDINAL PAUL POUPARD WILL TRAVEL TO MINSK, BELARUS on December 10-12 as a guest of Archbishop Filaret, metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, patriarchal exarch of Belarus and president of the Theological Synodal Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church.  The president of the Pontifical Council for Culture will address participants in an International Congress on the theme "Christianity and Proximity of the Cooperation of Spiritual Values in the European Community." The following topics will be discussed: Christian identity, religious freedom, freedom in a secularized Europe, cultural interaction between Orthodox and Catholics, holiness, ethics, Christian social doctrine and the formation of the ethical foundation of a civil society. On Sunday, December 12, in the Catholic cathedral of Minsk, Cardinal Poupard will concelebrate Mass with Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek, archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev.
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