Pope Francis tells Jesuits: ‘Do Not Be Afraid’

'Do Not Be Afraid'c

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Pope Francis Meets with Jesuits in Belgium

byAntonio Spadaro, SJ
October 8, 2024



© Antonio Spadaro

On the afternoon of Saturday, September 28, 2024, Pope Francis left the campus of the Catholic University of Louvain and arrived, around 6:15 p.m., at the Collège Saint-Michel, a Catholic school run by the Society of Jesus, located in Etterbeek, Brussels. There he met with about 150 Jesuits who reside in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. With them were the provincial of the Francophone Western European Province, Fr. Thierry Dobbelstein, and the superior of the Netherlands region, Fr. Marc Desmet. Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, was also present. The pope began:

Good evening, everyone! I have been here twice before, and it is good to return. I must tell you the truth: I once committed a theft here. I came to celebrate Mass and saw some papers that intrigued me. They were handouts from lessons on the Book of Job. That year in Argentina I was supposed to teach classes specifically on Job. I flipped through the pages, and they impressed me. Those notes remained with me!

In Belgium, pope apologizes for clergy abuse; prime minister says words alone are insufficient

Seated between Belgium's Queen Mathilde and King Philippe, Pope Francis addresses government and civic leaders and members of the diplomatic corps in the Grand Gallery of the Castle of Laeken in Brussels Sept. 2. Francis will spend three days in Belgium. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

by Christopher White

Vatican Correspondent

Brussels — September 27, 2024

Pope Francis on Sept. 27 kicked off a three-day trip to Belgium by asking forgiveness for the church's shameful record on clergy abuse, but was met with a challenge by the country's prime minister that "words alone do not suffice."

"We also need concrete steps," said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. "Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized."

The prime minister's unusually sharp remarks spotlighted an issue that has loomed large over the pope's visit here ever since it was first announced and where the local church is reeling from the fallout of a damning 2023 documentary on clergy abuse.

The documentary has prompted the Belgian Federal Parliament and the regional Flemish assembly to launch investigations into the church's handling of cases and to revisit how the country's law enforcement potentially botched an earlier abuse inquiry some 15 years ago.

'Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized.'

—Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo

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"When something goes wrong we cannot accept cover-ups," the prime minister told the pope, in front of an audience of the country's royal family and other government officials. "To be able to look into the future, the church needs to come clean on its past."

Also offering a sharp condemnation of the church's record on abuse was King Philippe, who said that it has taken "far too long" for the cries of victims to be heard and acknowledged by the church.

The church in Belgium, said the king, "must continue resolutely and relentlessly" to root out abuse and provide care for survivors.

Catastrophic Contagion

LESSONS FROM THE EXERCISE
PARTICIPANTS
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our Work > Tabletop Exercises > Catastrophic Contagion > About Catastrophic Contagion

Catastrophic Contagion



The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in partnership with WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, conducted Catastrophic Contagion, a pandemic tabletop exercise at the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on October 23, 2022.

The extraordinary group of participants consisted of 10 current and former Health Ministers and senior public health officials from Senegal, Rwanda, Nigeria, Angola, Liberia, Singapore, India, Germany, as well as Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The exercise simulated a series of WHO emergency health advisory board meetings addressing a fictional pandemic set in the near future. Participants grappled with how to respond to an epidemic located in one part of the world that then spread rapidly, becoming a pandemic with a higher fatality rate than COVID-19 and disproportionately affecting children and young people.

Participants were challenged to make urgent policy decisions with limited information in the face of uncertainty. Each problem and choice had serious health, economic, and social ramifications. 


Lessons | Participants | Photos and Videos | Acknowledgments

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Stromae, Global Star In The Making, Set To Touch Down In The U.S.

by ELEANOR BEARDSLEY
June 19, 2014 3:00 AM ET

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Paul Van Haver, better known as Stromae, has already captured the European music market. Now, he's setting his sights on the U.S.Dati Bendo/Courtesy of the artist

Paul Van Haver meets me in the public cafe of a Brussels arts center. Though he's one of the hottest young pop artists in Europe, he arrives with just his manager, not an entourage. Van Haver is soft-spoken and neatly dressed, with smooth, caramel-colored skin and pale green eyes. Young people inside the cafe stare agog before approaching him for an autograph. They know him by his stage name, Stromae — "maestro" in backwards French slang.

Stromae's latest hit, "Papaoutai," swept the French music awards this year and went to the top of the iTunes singles charts in more than a dozen countries. The video has been viewed more than 150 million times. Not bad for a little song about a boy's emptiness growing up without his father, whose title translates as, "Papa, where are you?"

Stromae's father was a Rwandan architect who wasn't around much; he died in that country's genocide in 1994. The singer was raised, along with four siblings, by their Belgian mother in a working-class Brussels neighborhood.

"I didn't know him very well," he says. "My suffering is to know that I will never know who he was. It was difficult to know he was dead. But when my mother told me, I said, 'What's a father?' 'Cause I don't really know what a father is."

Stromae says he grew up listening to French and American rappers, and was inspired by the Americans' rhythm and flow, but not their vision of life.

"I didn't understand this kind of fake dream," he says. "As if life is about swimming pools, limousines, naked girls and stuff. No, my mother told me that happiness is not that, you know?"

His mother sent him to a Jesuit school at 16, after he failed out of the public system. It was a turning point for the artist: He decided to get serious about his life and his music, which he describes as a mix of Congolese rumba, rap, French ballad and electro-pop. The songs are about the world he grew up in.

"I prefer to talk about our problems, to be proud of them, in place of trying to hide them. Because you can't. And I prefer to dance, to smile on it, to laugh on it," he says.

Stromae's first hit, "Alors On Danse" ("So We Dance"), took Belgium by storm in late 2009, followed by all of Europe a few months later. It may be about unemployment, divorce and debt, but it makes you want to dance.

"I decided to tell a story about the reason why we dance," the singer says. "Because I was in clubs and I love clubs, but there is so much melancholy there."

In the video for "Formidable," a bitter breakup ballad and his second big hit, he emerges from a Brussels subway station in morning rush hour. He staggers through the streets as if drunk. Some help, others ignore him; he calls it a reflection of "our true humanity." The song was inspired by a homeless man who once yelled at the singer and his girlfriend, "So you think you're beautiful!"

"I never forgot this sentence, and I put it in my song, actually: Tu te crois beau," Stromae says. "He was so right, even if this guy was drunk or marginal or aggressive. He is just alone, and he needs someone to listen to him."

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G7 Summit in Brussels, 4 – 5 June 2014: Background note and facts about the EU's role and actions

European Commission

MEMO

Brussels, 3 June 2014



The Brussels G7 Summit will take place on 4-5 June. At their meeting in The Hague on 24 March, the G7 at leaders' level (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission decided not to participate in the planned G8 Summit in Sochi (Russia) as a reaction to the Russian Federation's violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Instead, they decided to meet in Brussels in the G7 format on the same days.

The Brussels G7 Summit will be hosted by the European Union. The European Union is represented by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

At the Brussels Summit, Leaders will discuss the situation in Ukraine and the relations with Russia as well as other foreign policy issues, the global economy, energy, climate change and development.

1. Foreign policy

As the first topic, the G7 leaders are expected to discuss foreign policy challenges at their working dinner on the evening of 4 June. The leaders will focus their discussions on Ukraine and Russia but they may also address the latest developments on other foreign policy issues.

In the last months and following the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the G7 leaders have issued several declarations condemning the Russian Federation's clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine (see statement of 3 March), condemning the illegal referendum and the illegal attempt by Russia to annex Crimea in contravention of international law and specific international obligations (see The Hague Declaration following the G7 meeting on 24 March) and expressing their deep concern at the continued efforts by separatists backed by Russia to destabilise eastern Ukraine (see statement of 26 April).

At the Brussels G7 Summit leaders are expected to discuss the latest developments following the presidential elections held in Ukraine on 25 May. They will discuss the continued work to support Ukraine's economic and political reforms as well as their continued readiness to intensify targeted sanctions and to impose further costs on Russia should events so require.

Role of the EU: In response to Russian actions so far, the EU has cancelled the next EU-Russia summit and member states' regular bilateral summits with Russia have also been annulled. Negotiations on visa matters and a new agreement with Russia have been suspended. The EU has also targeted 61 persons responsible for actions that threaten or undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine with asset freezes and bans from entering the EU. Two confiscated entities in Crimea and Sevastopol are also subject to an asset freeze.

At the same time the EU continues to roll out a €11 billion support package to Ukraine including a €1.6 billion of Macro-financial assistance to contribute to covering Ukraine's urgent balance-of-payments needs (of which the first €100 million were paid out on 20 May) and a €365m state-building contract to help the country's transition and boost the role of civil society, promoting democratic reforms and inclusive socio-economic development.

On 21 March the political chapters of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement were signed. The EU remains committed to signing the full agreement including the deep and comprehensive free trade area. Even ahead of the signature of the provisions on free trade, temporary EU trade preferences for Ukraine apply since 23 April. More information on the EU support for Ukraine:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-279_en.htm

2. Global economy

The first working session of the second day, Thursday 5 June, is on the global economic outlook. The discussions are expected to focus on the improved prospect of global growth and how to tackle the remaining serious challenges such as high unemployment. Leaders will also address trade issues including the active and ambitious trade agenda of the G7 members with a number of bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral negotiations ongoing.

Supporting growth and jobs remains the key priority for the G7 members and the recovery is strengthening/continuing. Leaders are expected to call for continued and sustained growth in order to bring down unemployment, particularly among young people and the long term unemployed. Structural reforms, as well as completing key aspects of core financial reforms, such as building resilient financial institutions and ending too-big-to-fail, remain important in order to achieve this common objective.

Role of the EU: The economic and financial situation in the euro area has stabilised since last summer thanks to the determined and comprehensive crisis response by the EU. There are genuine signs that a more lasting recovery is now taking place in the EU and the euro area. GDP is expected to grow by 1.6% in the EU this year, before speeding up to 2% in 2015. Unemployment rates have stopped increasing since mid-2013 in most of the EU while remaining, however, at unacceptably high levels.

Leaders are expected to also address and reaffirm their commitment to tackling tax avoidance, including through the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plan, and tax evasion, where the aim is to focus on the rapid implementation of the new single global standard for automatic exchange of tax information.

Role of the EU: thanks to its experience and pioneering role on tax transparency and tax good governance the EU and its member states play a central role in fora like the G7/G8, the G20 and the OECD to ensure fairness and transparency in taxation at global level. More on the EU's policy to fight tax fraud and tax avoidance: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/tax_fraud_evasion/index_en.htm

Under the trade and investment umbrella, leaders are expected to reconfirm their commitment to fight protectionism. The leaders will also take stock of the WTO negotiations and prioritise the swift implementation of the Bali package and continue the current Aid for Trade commitments.

Role of the EU: Together, the European Union's 28 members account for 19% of world imports and exports. Trade remains an important driver for growth and jobs. That is why it is a key priority for the EU to open up more market opportunities for European business by negotiating new Free Trade Agreements with key partners, in particular the G7 members Canada, Japan and the United States). If the EU was to complete all its current free trade talks tomorrow, it could add 2.2% to the EU's GDP or €275 billion. In terms of employment, these agreements could generate 2.2 million new jobs or additional 1% of the EU total workforce.

EU trade policy aims to working to:


create a global system for fair and open trade, through active support to the agreements and obligations overseen by the WTO; the focus is on implementing the Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and on developing a future WTO work programme.


further open up markets with key partner countries – cf. the ongoing trade negotiations with the USA (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), , Canada (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), Japan (Free Trade Agreement) and China (EU-China Investment Agreement). Free Trade Agreements were recently concluded with Singapore and are under negotiation with Malaysia and Vietnam. Various Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements are concluded or are under negotiation with several countries in the EU's Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood, including Ukraine;


lift barriers, open markets and ensure that trade is fair;


ensure that trade is a force for sustainable development, opening EU markets to all imports from the world's poorest countries and supporting developing countries to build the capacity to take advantage of trade.

More info and key figures on EU trade policy on http://ec.europa.eu/trade/

3. Energy and climate change

The discussions on energy and climate change at the second working session on Thursday 5 June will be two-fold.

First, leaders will discuss energy security in light of the Ukraine crisis and building on the Rome G7 energy initiative for energy security agreed by the G7 energy ministers on 6 May (see statement of 6 May). Leaders will be looking at identifying and implementing concrete domestic policies separately and together to build a more competitive, diversified, resilient and low-carbon energy system. Focus will be put on diversification of routes and sources, upgrading of energy infrastructure, development of indigenous resources and energy efficiency, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Clean technology is another important element to this.

Role of the EU: The EU has continuously sought to improve the energy security of its Member States through a variety of policies and actions. Most recently, in response to the crisis in Ukraine and the request by the European Council, the European Commission has tabled a European Energy Security Strategy (see the press release and the MEMO) as a basis for further discussion with Heads of States and Governments at the June European Council. The G7 Energy summit (Rome 5-6 May 2014) has built upon the Commission’s efforts to develop energy emergency plans for winter 2014-2015 at regional level, to exchange best practices for assessing energy security vulnerabilities, for IEA to prepare options for individual and collective actions of G7 in the field of gas security, and to supply technical assistance and facilitate exchanges with Ukraine and other European countries seeking to develop indigenous hydrocarbons, renewables and improve energy efficiency.

On climate change, leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to limit effectively the increase in global temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and express their strong determination to adopt in 2015 a global agreement, ahead of the Climate Summit of the United Nations General Assembly in September and the upcoming COP2015 in Paris.

Role of the EU: the EU continues to pioneer global climate action thanks to its ambitious and legally binding framework. It remains fully committed to a multilateral legally binding approach to tackling climate change and to reshape the global climate agenda, working towards the UN climate conferences in Lima in 2014 and in Paris in 2015. The EU is on track with its domestic preparations on an ambitious 2030 climate and energy framework. The European Heads of State and Government agreed to take final decision on this as quickly as possible, and no later than October 2014, which means that the EU would be ready for the first quarter of 2015 at the latest.

Significant financial resources are mobilised to help developing countries deal adequately with climate change, with substantial co-benefits in terms of energy security. For example, the EU has allocated 400 million EUR to promote access to sustainable energy for all (SE4ALL) in Africa, building on the ACP-EU Energy Facility and the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund.

The European Union is the largest contributor of climate finance to developing countries and the world's biggest aid donor, collectively providing more than half of global official development assistance (ODA). The EU and its Member States pledged €7.2 billion in "fast start" climate finance over 2010-2012, almost one-third of the total pledged by developed countries. Despite difficult economic circumstances, the EU met and even surpassed its commitment by providing €7.34 bn in fast start finance. This money is being spent on concrete climate actions in developing countries.

Climate change is being increasingly integrated into the EU's broader development strategy. 20% of the resources dedicated to international development aid from the new multiannual financial framework of the EU as well as 20% of the 11th European Development Fund for the period 2014-2020 are to be allocated to climate-relevant actions.

More info on 2030 climate and energy goals for a competitive, secure and low-carbon EU economy.

4. Development

Finally, the Thursday 5 June working lunch will be devoted to development issues with a view to taking stock of progress and reconfirming previous G7 commitments, such as the Muskoka initiative on maternal, new-born and child health, the GAVI alliance (global alliance for vaccines and immunization), the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, the Deauville Partnership, tax evasion and illicit flows of finance.

Role of the EU: Despite the economic and financial context in Europe, the EU remains the biggest donor in the world – more than half of global development aid is provided by Europeans: Over the last ten years, the EU and its Member States have committed around 45 billion euro per year to development aid. This support has paid off: since 2004, the EU has contributed to the enrolment of more than 13 million boys and girls at school, to the vaccination of around 18 million children and to providing more than 70 million people with access to water around the world.

Food security remains in the centre of the EU's development policy. Since 2013, the EU has stepped up its efforts to fight against world hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, with a new policy framework that delivers on the EU's commitment to help partner countries reduce stunting amongst children under five years of age by at least 10% (7 million) by 2025. Under-nutrition will also be contained through investment in rural development, sustainable agriculture, public health, water and sanitation, social protection and education.

On 20 May, the EU announced that it will provide €25 million per year in the period 2014-2020 to fund vaccines and immunisation programmes worldwide through the GAVI alliance – more than double than previously committed. Since 2003, the European Commission has committed over €83 million to the GAVI Alliance, coming in part from the Development Co-operation Instrument (DCI) and in part from the European Development Fund (EDF). Thanks to donors like the EU, close to half a billion children have been immunised since 2000, resulting in 6 million lives saved.

The leaders will also discuss the post-2015 agenda aiming at completing unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals. This would include a focus on eradications of extreme poverty, promoting development and on balancing environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development, including climate change.

Role of the EU: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remain at the core of EU development policy and actions. The EU has implemented the 1 billion euro MDG initiative, launched at the 2010 MDG summit, targeting the most off-track MDGs: hunger, maternal health, child mortality and access to water and sanitation. The EU supports nearly 70 actions in 46 countries, with a focus on Least Developed Countries.

On 2 June 2014, the European Commission adopted a Communication to contribute to the EU position in international negotiations on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as the follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The proposal calls for tackling issues of global concern such as poverty, inequality, health, food security, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, sustainable energy, decent work, inclusive and sustainable growth, sustainable consumption and production, biodiversity, land degradation and sea and oceans. It will now be discussed by Council of Ministers and the European Parliament and the outcome will guide the EU's position in the negotiations at UN level.

5. The EU as G7/G8 member

The European Union is a full member in G7/G8 Summits and is represented by the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission.

In 1977, representatives of the then European Community began participating in the London Summit. The first G7 summit was held two years earlier, in 1975 in Rambouillet (France). Originally, the EU had a limited role to those areas in which it had exclusive competences, but the EU’s role has grown with time. The European Commission was gradually included in all political discussions on the summit agenda and took part in all summit working sessions, as of the Ottawa Summit (1981). Commission President Barroso, who attended the G8 for the first time in Gleneagles in 2005, is participating for the 10th time, while Council President Van Rompuy has been attending the G8/G7 since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty (2009).

The Commission and the European Council have all the responsibilities of membership. The Summit Communiqué is politically binding for all G7 members.

The Presidency will continue in its rotation to Germany in 2015 (Summit 4-5 May 2015), Japan in 2016, Italy in 2017, Canada in 2018, France in 2019, and the USA in 2020.

Useful links

G7 2014 section on President Van Rompuy's website:

http://www.european-council.europa.eu/g7brussels

G7/G8/G20 section on President Barroso's website:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/g20/index_en.htm

President Van Rompuy on Twitter and on Facebook

President Barroso on Twitter

Full video coverage of the G7 will be available for download in broadcast quality from the Council TV newsroom www.eucouncil.tv, and live events will be broadcast on Europe by Satellite (http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/schedule.cfm ) Photos covering the event will be available for download in high resolution from the Council Photo Library http://www.consilium.europa.eu/photo and the European Commission's audiovisual services (http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/photo/index.cfm

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‘What’s the Use of Keeping this Baby Alive?’ Belgian Lawmakers Legalize Euthanasia for Children

February 23, 2014
By: Garrett Haley





BELGIUM – Lawmakers in Belgium recently approved a measure that will allow doctors to euthanize children of all ages.

As previously reported, the Belgian Senate overwhelmingly approved a child euthanization bill in December, sending it to the lower legislative house. This month, the lower house voted 86-44 in favor of the measure, despite some international criticism. Belgium’s King Philippe is expected to sign the bill into law.

Once the new measure is enacted, terminally ill children will have the option to end their lives via lethal injection. As long as children understand what euthanasia is and have approval from parents and doctors, they will be free to choose assisted suicide.

Belgium, a predominantly secular country, first sanctioned euthanasia for adults in 2002. Now, the small European nation will become only the second country in the world—along with the Netherlands—to allow child euthanization.


Supporters of the child euthanization measure argue that terminally ill individuals should be allowed to die, regardless of age.

“This [bill] is an act of humanity that allows the doctor to make the most humane course of action for his patient,” Philippe Mahoux, a senator who sponsored the legislation, told The New York Times. “What is scandalous is the suffering of sick children when they are going to die.”

Linda van Roy is a mother from Belgium who supports the new euthanization measures. Two years ago, her 10-month-old daughter slowly died from a terminal disease, and she wishes she could have ended her baby’s life more quickly.
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“That whole period of sedation, you always need to give more and more medication, and you start asking questions,” van Roy told CNN. “And you say, ‘What’s the use of keeping this baby alive?’ ”

“We want for those children to be able to talk about euthanasia and to ask those questions and if they really want to say, ‘Stop, this is it, I don’t want it anymore,’ that they can have a choice,” she added.

However, many people voiced opposition to the euthanasia bill, stating that children should never be asked whether or not they want to intentionally end their lives.

“The law says adolescents cannot make important decisions on economic or emotional issues, but suddenly they’ve become able to decide that someone should make them die,” observed Andre-Joseph Leonard, an archbishop in Belgium.

American businessman and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes likewise expressed concern about the Belgian measure, opining that it exemplifies the “slippery slope” of euthanasia.

“We are on the malignantly slippery slope to becoming a society like that envisioned by Nazi Germany, one in which ‘undesirables’ are disposed of like used tissue,” Forbes wrote in a recent column. “The Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities sidetracked the eugenics movement. But now it’s making a comeback in new garb—we want to kill only to reduce suffering.”

“As euthanasia becomes more accepted—and we become more numb to the horror of murdering people like this—we’ll descend to the next abomination: pressuring the sick to discontinue treatment for a likely fatal illness in the name of ‘saving scarce resources’ for people who have more years ahead of them,” he suggested.

“The true mark of a civilization is in how it treats its most vulnerable members,” Forbes concluded.

Photo: BBC

 
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Conference on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.cesi.org/news/2014/140122_sunday_alliance.html


http://www.flickr.com//photos/comece/sets/72157640003868823/show/

CONFERENCE on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

Tuesday 21 January 2014 at the EU Parliament (Brussels)


On the occasion of a Conference at the European Parliament which gathered 120 participants, the European Sunday Alliance officially launched a Pledge for a work-free Sunday and decent work, ahead of the European elections 2014. The Pledge is aimed at committing European politicians to the promotion of a common weekly day of rest as well as a legal framework guaranteeing sustainable working time patterns based on the principle of decent work.

The pledge states that « A work-free Sunday and decent working hours are of paramount importance for citizens and workers throughout Europe and are not necessarily in conflict with economic competitiveness.  Especially in the present time of socio-economic crisis, the adoption of legislation extending working hours to late evenings, nights, bank holidays and Sundays has direct consequences for the working conditions of employees and for small and medium sized enterprises. Competitiveness needs innovation, innovation needs creativity and creativity needs recreation! ». The Pledge can be accessed here.


By signing this pledge, current members of the EU Parliament and candidates in the upcoming European elections commit themselves :


1. To ensure that all relevant EU-legislation both respects and promotes the protection of a common weekly day of rest for all EU citizens, which shall be in principle on a Sunday, in order to protect workers' health and promote a better balance between family and private life and work;

2. To promote EU-legislation guaranteeing sustainable working time patterns based on the principle of decent work benefiting society as well as the economy as a whole.


The Second European Conference on the Protection of a Work-free Sunday and Decent Work was held on the 21 January 2014 at the European Parliament (Brussels) in order to raise awareness around the Pledge and the core demands of the European Sunday Alliance. The Conference was organised by the Members of Parliament Evelyn Regner (S&D) and Thomas Mann (EPP), together with the European Sunday Alliance.


For overcoming the crisis in Europe, the creation of jobs and economic competitiveness are the main requirements. The European Sunday alliance affirms that competitiveness and decent work can go hand in hand with a common weekly day of rest. It needs recreation to be creative, innovative, and in the end, competitive. The various pannelists and keynote speakers were of the view that today, legislation and practices in place at the EU and Member State level need to be more protective of the health, safety, dignity of everyone and should more attentively promote the balance between family and private life and work. All people in the European Union should be entitled to benefit from work-free Sundays and decent working hours. Sunday protection strengthens the social cohesion of our societies. It represents a precious feature of our heritage, which should be recognised as a fundamental pillar of the European Social and Economic Model.


Downloads:

Press release EN- Communiqué de presse FR - Presseerklärung DE - Communicato Stampa IT

Programme



Photos and videos:

Flickr Album


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The Family in the 21st Century

Save the date : The Family in the 21st Century

With the European elections on the horizon the Secretariat of COMECE and the Team of the Chapel for Europe cordially invite you to the Series of Conferences

EUROPE - POLITICS – AND BEYOND

to be held in the

Chapel of the Resurrection – Chapel for Europe






4th Conference: "The Family in the 21st Century"

Tuesday 7 January 2014 19:00

There is a wide consensus within Europe that the nuclear family is the basic building block of a healthy and prosperous society. A wide range of social change has challenged this view.

In the light of the changing profile of the family in Europe, Breda O’Brien, Columnist at The Irish Times, will explore the constitutive elements of the family and its relationship to society at large.


On Tuesday 7 January 2014 at 19:00,

“The Family in the 21st Century” at the Chapel for Europe






More information and registration:http://www.comece.eu/conferences


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CONFERENCE on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

Conference on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

CONFRERENCE    CONFERENCE

on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

Tuesday 21 January 2014 at the EU Parliament (Brussels)

The objective of this conference is to highlight the paramount importance a work-free Sunday and decent working hours for citizens throughout Europe and is not necessarily to be set against economic competitiveness. All people in the European Union should be entitled to benefit from work-free Sundays and decent working hours.
For a couple of years now, the socio-economic crisis has been overshadowing European Union policy making. The situation in many Member States is critical: political instability is increasing and social balances are at risk. Europe is facing many challenges such as demographic change, unemployment especially among young people, poverty and social exclusion. Austerity, further liberalisation and flexibility are very often seen as key solutions for getting out of the crisis. Social protection and social rights seem to be put aside. However, employment and the creation of jobs and economic competitiveness in Europe are the main requirements for overcoming the crisis. But what kind of jobs do we need in Europe? Can competitiveness and decent work and a common weekly rest day go hand in hand, and under what conditions? We believe: Competitiveness needs innovation, innovation needs creativity and creativity needs recreation!

2013 is the European Year of Citizens. Sunday protection strengthens the social cohesion of our societies. It therefore represents a precious achievement which should be recognised as a pillar of the European Social and Economic Model. We believe that today, legislation and practices in place at the EU and Member State levels need to be more protective of the health, safety, dignity of everyone and should more attentively promote the balance between family and private life and work.

The Members of Parliament Evelyn Regner (S&D) and Thomas Mann (EPP)

and

The European Sunday Alliance

 

Invite you to

The Second European Conference on the Protection of a Work-free Sunday and Decent Work


2014-2019: WORK-FREE SUNDAYS AND DECENT WORK IN THE EU

What can the Members of the European Parliament do to promote the idea?



Date: Tuesday 21 January 2013

Time: 9:00 to 17:15

Venue: European Parliament, Brussels, Room PHS 7C050

1. 1st SESSION: Decent work and work-free Sundays in times of crisis
2. 2nd SESSION: Balancing family and private life and work - towards a happy and healthy life
3. 3rd SESSION: How a work-free Sunday enables citizens´ participation and voluntary engagement

PLEASE REGISTER HERE :

Data required for an access badge to the EU Parliament



Conference on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work 21.01.2014,


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European Conference for Work-Free Sunday

venerdì 26 luglio 2013

(Friday, July 26, 2013)

CONFERENZA EUROPEA SULLA DOMENICA LIBERA DAL LAVORO

(European Conference for Work-Free Sunday)

SAVE-THE-DATE

The Members of Parliament Evelyn Regner (S&D) and Thomas Mann (EPP)

and

The European Sunday Alliance

Invite you to

The Second European Conference on the Protection of a Work-free Sunday and Decent Work

2014-2019: WORK-FREE SUNDAYS AND DECENT WORK IN THE EU

What can the Members of the European Parliament do to promote the idea?

Date: 15 October 2013
Time: 10h00 – 17h00
Venue: European Parliament, Brussels, Room ASP 3C050


Background:
The objective of this conference is to highlight that a work-free Sunday and a better synchronisation of social rhythm with working hours, with less irregular and unsocial working hours, are of paramount importance for citizens throughout Europe. It allows a better reconciliation of work and private/family life, which would also allow to partake in collective activities such as sports, culture or other social activities. In view of the up-coming elections of the European Parliament, the European Sunday Alliance will discuss with the current and prospective Members of the European Parliament their respective views and perspectives for the next legislation 2014-2019.



Background:
L'obiettivo di questa conferenza è quello di evidenziare che una Domenica libera dal lavoro e un bettersynchronisation del ritmo sociale con l'orario di lavoro, con orari di lavoro meno irregolari e asociale, sono di fondamentale importanza per i cittadini di tutta Europa. Permette una migliore conciliazione tra lavoro e vita privata / familiare, che permetterebbe anche di partecipare alle attività collettive come lo sport, la cultura o altre attività sociali. In considerazione degli imminenti elezioni del Parlamento europeo, la Domenica Alleanza europea discuterà con i membri attuali e futuri del Parlamento europeo, i loro rispettivi punti di vista e prospettive per la prossima legislazione 2014-2019.


Cara Anna Echterhoff,
siamo molto felici di leggervi e di sapere di questa conferenza presso il Parlamento Europeo a Bruxelles.
Noi abbiamo fatto una raccolta firme nazionale presentando 150.000 adesioni per portare una nuova proposta di legge di iniziativa popolare al parlamento italiano.Il ministro dello sviluppo economico ha accolto la nostra richiesta e presto sarà posta in discussione.Speriamo che presto potremo restituire alla nostra vita un sapore più umano.
Saluti.
Giulia



(Dear Anna Echterhoff,
we are very happy to read you and know of this conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.
We did a national petition presenting 150,000 accessions to bring a new bill to the italian parliament by popular initiative.Il Economic Development Minister has accepted our request and will soon be placed in discussion.We hope that we will soon return to our lives a taste more human.)
Greetings.
Giulia




Pubblicato da Commercio Attivo a 18:39
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Control Arms’ Global Week of Action will be held from the 11th to the 17th of March 2013.

The theme will be “missing pieces,” referring to the few missing elements of the draft text that would make the Arms Trade Treaty complete. In their letter, they have provided suggested actions and resources.

Pax Christi International invites all of its Member Organisations to focus on the ATT during the Week of Action. The letter can be read in English: http://archive.paxchristi.net/2012/2013-0039-en-gl-SD.pdf




Pax Christi International - rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains, 21 - 1000 Brussels Belgium
Tel. +32 2 502 55 50 - Fax. +32 2 502 46 26

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The growing crisis in Europe

Join a discussion with high-level EU Officials and Civil Society experts about the future direction of the EU's response to the crisis!

Together, we will explore the deepening levels of social distress in Europe and will assess the adequacy of the EU's mechanisms and policy responses to date - including the Europe 2020 Strategy's European Semester and the EU's austerity approach through the Stabilisation Mechanisms.

Download the agenda  (Draft version).


When: 21 February 2013 

Where: European Economic and Social Committee, Room VM3, 2nd floor, Van Maerlant Building, rue Van Maerlant 2, 1040 Brussels 

Note: Please note that, for security reasons, your ID will be required to access the building

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Pope pained by Belgian child sex scandal

By the CNN Wire Staff
September 13, 2010 5:18 p.m. EDT

Belgium's Catholic Church released a report detailing hundreds of assertions of abuse of children by clergy.

(CNN) -- A Vatican spokesman said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI feels much pain after revelations that members of the clergy were involved in widespread sexual abuse of children from the 1950s through the 1980s in Belgium.

"The publishing of this report is a new cause of pain for us, for the victims," Father Federico Lombardi said.

The announcement came after leaders of the church in Belgium said Catholic priests who abused children should tell their superiors.

"We want to repeat this call with force," said Bishop Johan Bonny, the bishop of Antwerp. "It is to everyone's advantage that the abuser in a pastoral relationship communicates this fact to his superior" or to a new "center for investigation, healing and reconciliation," which he announced Monday.

The church has identified four experts to start preparatory work on the center, he said, but he did not name them.

Belgian church officials will begin interviews Tuesday as a follow-up to a church-backed investigation that detailed hundreds of assertions of sexual abuse of children by clergy and others working for the church from the 1950s into the late 1980s. It was led by Dr. Peter Adriaenssens, who is both a church investigator and a psychiatrist.

"From the mistakes of the past, we wish to take the necessary lessons," said Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium. "In the interviews that will be conducted from tomorrow, we will consider the relevant reflexions and proposals of Professor Adriaenssens."

The process will take time, because "it is impossible to try to resolve these traumatic experiences too quickly," Leonard said.

It is to everyone's advantage that the abuser in a pastoral relationship communicates this fact to his superior.
--Bishop Johan Bonny

"We want to commit ourselves to giving the maximum support for the victims," he said. "We must listen to their questions in order to restore their dignity and help heal the suffering they have endured."

The commission said it received about 500 reports from alleged victims, about 60 percent of them from males.

It cited 320 alleged abusers, of whom 102 were known to have been clergy members from 29 congregations.

Thirteen of the alleged victims committed suicide, it said.

"We can say that not a single congregation escaped sexual abuse of minors by one or more of its members," the Commission on Church-Related Sexual Abuse Complaints said Friday.

"The stories they contain and suffering make us shudder," Leonard said.

Linda Opdebeeck told CNN that her abuse as a Belgian schoolgirl did not begin immediately.

"He had a little room at school, and when you had a problem, you could go to him," she said. "He was very charismatic; he was very friendly. I was alone. I didn't have brothers or sisters. I was an only child. I was fat, and I was lonely. So I went to him in his little room, and he listened to me, and I had a nice feeling. But a year later, he started to abuse me."

But Opdebeeck, now in her 40s, said she felt unable to tell anyone else what was going on.

"I knew I had to be silent because he was a friend of my parents," she said. "What could I say? He was always saying that I had to shut up or something bad would happen to me."

Years later, she confronted him but found little satisfaction. "There were three men at the table, and he was just telling that he didn't remember any more, and it wasn't so bad, and I had to feel pity because he was old," she said. "It seems to me that the victims are the abusers and the abusers are the victims when you hear them speaking about 'Just forgive us and continue your life.' "

The abuse, she said, has had an impact on her faith. "I try to separate my faith and the church, but it's very hard," she said. "Perhaps there is a God, but then he has nothing to do with all the men there. No. The church is finished."

In last week's report, investigators had information about when the abuse started for 233 of the alleged victims. Forty-eight were 12; one was 2; five were 4; eight were 5; seven were 6; ten were 7.

Of the 230 alleged victims about whom investigators said they had reliable information, more than 70 percent are currently between the ages of 40 and 70, it said. Ten percent are 31 to 40.

Four alleged victims are 20 to 30 years of age, and one is younger than 20, it said.

At the other end of the scale, five alleged victims are aged between 80 and 90 years old, and one is older than 90.

Belgian police raided Catholic Church headquarters in the country this year and questioned a cardinal over allegations of a cover-up by the church.

Belgian police questioned Gotfried Danneels, the country's former Catholic archbishop, for about 10 hours over accusations he knew of sexual abuse in the church but failed to stop it, the Belgian prosecutor's office said in July.

Danneels was being considered a witness but could become a suspect, prosecutor's spokesman Joseph Colain said.

Danneels, who was questioned July 5, could be interrogated again as the investigation continues, Colain said.

Danneels was archbishop of Belgium for more than 30 years before he stepped down in January.

Belgian police raided the national headquarters of the Catholic Church in June over allegations of child abuse, prompting an angry response from Pope Benedict XVI and other church leaders.

Investigators seized archdiocese archives covering 25 years as well as personal computers and other personal possessions, said Fernand Keuleneer, a lawyer for the archdiocese.

Police raided Danneels' private residence and the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Belgium as a meeting of bishops was taking place.

They detained the bishops and other church employees -- even the cook -- for about nine hours, the Rev. Eric De Beukelaer said.

Members of a Belgian church commission that helps sexual abuse victims resigned en masse to protest the raid a week after it took place, said De Beukelaer, a spokesman for the Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese.

The commission worked with people who have been abused by clergy members, said the spokesman.

The Belgian Prosecutor's Office said in July that it is investigating death threats against witnesses and magistrates involved in clergy child abuse cases.

The Vatican criticized the raids but reaffirmed its "strong condemnation of any sinful and criminal abuse of minors by members of the church."

It cited "the need to repair and confront such acts in conformity with the law and teachings of the Gospels."

The Catholic Church is facing allegations that clergy members abused children in at least half a dozen countries, including the pope's native Germany, as well as Belgium, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and the United States.

CNN's Alex Felton and Atika Shubert contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/13/belgium.church.abuse/

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Where's the Beef? Ghent Goes Vegetarian

By EBEN HARRELL Eben Harrell – Wed May 27, 12:10 pm ET


Last year, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggested that the most useful step ordinary citizens could take to help combat climate change would be to stop eating meat. In Belgium, an entire town is taking his advice to heart. The Flemish city of Ghent has designated every Thursday as "Veggiedag" - Veggie Day - calling for meat-free meals to be served in schools and public buildings, and encouraging vegetarianism among citizens by promoting vegetarian eateries and offering advice on how to follow a herbivorous diet.


Veggie Day is not compulsory, says the city's vice-mayor, Tom Balthazar, because such a draconian measure would be impossible to enforce, even in environmentally friendly Ghent, a picturesque town of 230,000 where bicycles lay scattered against spired churches in the largest car-free city center in Belgium. "We wanted our goal to be easily achievable - it's not hard to skip meat one day a week," he says. "And we wanted it to be something the population could rally behind. If you give people the correct information about meat, it becomes an easy ethical decision." (Watch an interview with PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk.)


According to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, meat production accounts for 18% of annual greenhouse-gas emissions - more than transportation, which accounts for roughly 14%. Each year, millions of acres of rain forest are cleared for cattle ranchers and suppliers of animal feed, further accelerating climate change. Then there are the urgent human-health issues: the world feeds much of its grain to cattle and other animals even as millions of people starve. Those wealthy enough to consume fatty animal products are themselves at higher risk of certain health problems, including heart disease and some cancers. (See pictures of the U.N.'s efforts to feed the people of Uganda.)


For these reasons, says Tobias Leenaert, co-director of Ethical Vegetarian Alternative, a nonprofit funded by the regional Flemish government, "it's almost impossible to be against meat reduction. You can argue against vegetarianism, but not against cutting back on meat." That's a view that is gaining traction among those who hope to reshape meat consumption from an animal rights issue into an environmental and public health one. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, for example, recently spearheaded a "meatless Mondays" campaign in which it and 28 other public health schools run local outreach programs that promote a meat-free start to the week. Germany's federal environment agency issued an advisory earlier this year urging Germans to return to prewar norms of eating meats only on special occasions. And Leenaert says that since Ghent's Veggie Day was launched on May 13, environmental health officers from several other cities - including SÃo Paulo, with a population of 13 million - have expressed interest in mimicking the program.


But instituting such well-intentioned programs can be difficult, as I discovered during a trip to Ghent on its most recent Veggie Day on May 21. While most restaurants owners and residents I spoke to had heard of Veggie Day, few had any plans to embrace the concept. A local rib shack, Amadeus, was doing brisk business, and many people openly ate hot dogs on the street. Wim De Kinder, owner of the upscale Traiteur Grimod delicatessen, said he tried to introduce vegetarian fare two years ago after learning of the environmental cost of livestock production, but he couldn't shift enough product to make it profitable. "I can't be expected to make a loss for the sake of principle, however worthy," he says. (Read "Should We All Be Vegetarians?")


And it's clear that Ghent still has some ways to go in its promotion of a healthy lifestyle, even among the city's enlightened vegetarians. "I already follow a vegetarian diet for health reasons," insists Mareije Vanneck, 29, as she sucks on a cigarette. Lees Molenschot, a 64-year-old pensioner sitting in a local pub, says he eats only one meal a day, and always without meat, before adding, "I start out with a coffee in the morning, then five or six beers during the day, maybe some JÄgermeister, and then at 6 I make a healthy meal of vegetables in olive oil."


But Leenaert of Ethical Vegetarian Alternative says Ghent's public education program is still young. The city council has yet to mail out the 90,000 leaflets it has printed for residents explaining the global benefits of reducing meat consumption, and Veggie Day has yet to roll out in local schools, which will happen when they reconvene in September. He points out that there are historical antecedents for meat-free days, and that it is only recently that people have come to expect meat to be a daily ritual. For centuries in Catholic Europe, for example, citizens forsook meat on Fridays, fast days and Lent. Leenaert, a committed vegan, says governments may have to lay down such restrictions in the coming years as more people in the developing world become wealthy enough to eat meat, but room for livestock diminishes. He hopes, however, that the joint challenges of feeding the world and tackling climate change can be met without curbs on personal choice. "I have big dreams. I dream not of restrictions, but of a critical mass of enlightened citizens who become vegetarians by choice. Maybe that dream starts here in Ghent."


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090527/wl_time/08599190095800


P.S. Bolds added