Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images Less than two weeks after Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk was allowed to return to Belarus after a four-month exile, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had accepted the archbishop’s resignation on his 75th birthday.
In a statement January 3, the Holy See Press Office said that the Pope had accepted the archbishop’s resignation in accordance with the Church canon that requests that a bishop offers his resignation to the Pope at the age of 75.
Archbishop Kondrusiewicz returned to Belarus on December 24, nearly four months after he was barred from entering his native country after he had spoken in defence of protesters following a disputed presidential election.
Christmas trees burned in front of two Israeli Christian churches
The burning of two Christmas trees in the early morning of December 26 in the northern Israeli Arab city of Sakhnine was carried out “intentionally and premeditatedly,” said the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land.
The first tree was apparently burned at around 3 am near the entrance to St Joseph Melkite Catholic Church; three hours later, shortly after a guard left, the Christmas tree in front of the city’s Greek Orthodox church was burned.
“These two incidents indicate that the perpetrators … targeted a Christian religious symbol, and through it they targeted not only Christians, but the entire society,” the Catholic ordinaries said in a statement December 26.
Relics of St Maximilian Kolbe installed in chapel of Polish parliament
Relics of Auschwitz martyr St Maximilian Kolbe were installed in a chapel in Poland’s parliament before Christmas.
The relics were transferred December 17 to the Mother of God, Mother of the Church chapel, which also contains relics of the Polish Pope St John Paul II and the Italian pediatrician St Gianna Beretta Molla.
The relics were introduced formally to both houses of the Polish parliament – the Sejm, or lower house, and the Senate – in the capital, Warsaw, at a ceremony attended by Elżbieta Witek, the Speaker of the Sejm, Senator Jerzy Chróścikowski, and Fr Piotr Burgoński, chaplain of the Sejm chapel.
A December 18 press release from the Polish parliament said that the relics were handed over following numerous requests from deputies and senators.
Paraguay’s Congress responds to legalisation of abortion in Argentina with a minute of silence
The House of Representatives of Paraguay held one minute of silence for “the babies that will die” a few hours after the Senate in neighbouring Argentina legalised abortion.
In a statement and a video released by the Paraguayan Congress’ press office, the representatives observed the minute of silence upon the request of congressman Raúl Latorre.
“I ask for a minute of silence for the thousands of lives of Argentinian brothers and sisters who are going to be lost, even before they are born, based on the recent decision made by the Senate of the neighboring country”, Mr Latorre said.
Catholic bishop released five days after kidnapping in Nigeria
A Catholic bishop in Nigeria, who was kidnapped on December 27, has been released unharmed, according to the Archdiocese of Owerri.
The diocese, which is in southeastern Nigeria, announced in a social media post late on January 1 that Bishop Moses Chikwe and his driver, Ndubuisi Robert, had been released by their abductors “unhurt and without ransom”.
“More details to come,” the announcement continued. “To GOD be the glory.” The post was accompanied by a photo, with the words “welcome back our beloved Bishop, God heard [the] prayers of his people”.