Poland’s prime minister has stepped into a row over a statue of Pope St John Paul II in Ploërmel, a town in Brittany.
France’s top administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, has ruled that a large cross over the 25ft-high statue of John Paul in prayer must be removed as it contravenes a 1905 law banning any “religious sign or emblem” in a public space, upholding France’s strict separation of church and state.
Beata Szydło, prime minister of Poland, has offered to have the statue moved to Poland, to rescue it from “the dictates of political correctness”. She said that religious censorship was undermining the values of Europe.
“Our great Pole, a great European, is a symbol of a Christian, united Europe,” she said, adding that secularisation and the dictatorship of political correctness were “alien to our culture, which leads to terrorising Europeans in their everyday life”.
The argument has been raging ever since the statue, by Russian artist Zourab Tsereteli, was erected in 2006, with strong feelings voiced on both sides. The secularist National Federation of Free Thought campaigned to have it removed, and the court has now agreed that the cross must go, stating that its “presence in a public location is contrary to the law”. The Church has called the court’s decision “balanced” but conservative and Front National politicians have expressed dismay.
Valérie Boyer, an MP for the Republicans party formerly led by Nicolas Sarkozy, asked: “When will this madness consisting of trying to erase our roots end?” Patrick Le Diffon, the mayor of Ploërmel, has suggested selling the public land to a private investor.
Francis sides with Benedict in row over Mass translation
Pope Francis has appeared to wade into a contentious row over liturgical translation, agreeing with Benedict XVI that Christ shed his blood “for many” rather than “for all”.
During a Mass for cardinals who have died in the past year, the Pope said: “The ‘many’ who will rise for eternal life are to be understood as the ‘many’ for whom the blood of Christ was shed.”
The Catholic news site Crux said that the Vatican used the quotation around “many” when distributing the text.
Francis added that “for many” better expresses the idea that people have a choice to make in this life – whether to be for God or against him.
“Awakening from death isn’t, in itself, a return to life,” Pope Francis added. “Some in fact will awake to eternal life, others for eternal shame.”
Since the Mass was translated into the vernacular, liturgists have debated how best to translate the words “pro multis” in the prayer of Consecration.
The words in the original Greek literally translate as “for many”.
In 2006 the Holy See instructed that all new translations should use this literal translation, which met opposition from some countries, notably Germany.
Bishops pray for end to killings
The Philippines’ bishops’ conference has launched a rosary campaign calling for an end to a drugs war that has killed 40,000 people.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops’conference of the Philippines, asked Catholics to pray the rosary for 33 days until the feast of the Immaculate Conception to “heal the nation and stop the killings”.
The bishops led thousands in a procession protesting against President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign in Manila last Sunday.
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