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Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of June 21, 1999

Canadian and Foreign News Highlights

Montreal Archdiocese to downsize:

A two-year synod for the Montreal Archdiocese showed the Church has become too big, too slow and too weighted down with property and near-empty buildings to respond to Christ's command to evangelize all people, said Auxiliary Bishop Louis Dicaire. "We have a huge system," said Dicaire. In the first stage of restructuring, the archdiocese won't close any churches. Later, some churches will close.

Rome, Lutherans to sign agreement:

After a year of discussing just how much Catholics and Lutherans concur about the doctrine of justification, Church officials announced they were ready to sign a joint agreement. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification will be signed Oct. 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany. The LWF and the Vatican had approved The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in June 1998. But "clarifications" published by the Vatican at the same time led Lutheran leaders to ask if enough agreement existed to make a formal signing appropriate.

Pope bounces back from flu:

Bouncing back from a mild bout with the flu, Pope John Paul resumed his heavy program of events in Poland, canonizing a 13th-century princess before half a million people. "I would say the pope is back to normal, with the exception of his voice, which is not brilliant," papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters June 16. The day before, a fever of about 38C and flu symptoms forced the pope to cancel his participation in a Mass attended by more than a million people in his former Archdiocese of Krakow and a prayer service in nearby Gliwice.

Poland must be rooted in moral truths - pope:

During his 13-day visit to Poland, Pope John Paul hailed his homeland's new democratic era but said it must be anchored in moral truths. "Today as never before the nation needs the light of the Gospel and the strength that comes from it," he said. "Freedom demands constant reference to the truth."

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