IN BRIEF

DURING A BRIEF MEETING WITH A GROUP OF PROFESSORS from the faculty of theology of Tubingen, Germany on March 21, the Pope affirmed that: "University and society, humanity indeed, need questions, but they also need answers. And, in this context, I feel that theology - and not only theology - has need of a dialectic between rigid scientific principles and the greater question that transcends them and repeatedly emerges within them: the question of truth." Theology, said the Pope, "needs, apart from the courage to ask, also the humility to listen to the answers that Christian faith gives us."

THE POPE HAS SENT A TELEGRAM OF CONDOLENCE to Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Maputo, Mozambique, for the explosion at a weapons depot near the city's international airport on March 22 that left dozens of people dead. The Pope gives assurances of his prayers for the victims whom he "entrusts to the mercy of God, and for the injured, for their families and for all the inhabitants of the region, that they may find the necessary assistance and support at this moment of trial."

IN A MESSAGE WRITTEN FOR WORLD WATER DAY, which was celebrated on March 22 on the theme "Coping with Water Scarcity," the Pope highlights how water is "a universal and inalienable right" that must be "promoted and safeguarded." In his Message - which was read in his name by Msgr. Renato Volante , Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO) - Benedict XVI indicates the need "to re-examine models of consumption and production which are often unsustainable in terms of the use of water resources. This is ... a moral and political imperative in a world with levels of knowledge and technology capable of putting an end to situations of water scarcity and their dramatic consequences."

MSGR. PIETRO PAROLIN, UNDER-SECRETARY FOR RELATIONS with States of the Secretariat of State, delivered a speech on March 22 in the course of an international conference called by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, held in the Rome headquarters of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture on March 22 and 23. Speaking English, Msgr. Parolin expressed his "firm conviction that the different religious confessions present in the Holy Land can make a decisive contribution to the re-launching of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians."
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