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[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

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CONTENT

CUBA: Cardinal Ortega rejects declarations of Cuban Ambassador before the
Vatican
NICARAGUA: CEPAD calls on government and politicians to resolve urgent
problems in the country

JERUSALEM: Millennium Goals will not be achieved, warns Argentine Lutheran
Pastor
JERUSALEM: President of the Palestine Authority lauds support from Lutheran
World Federation
JERUSALEM: Lutheran World Federation calls for an end to Israeli occupation

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CUBA
Cardinal Ortega rejects declarations of Cuban Ambassador before the Vatican

By Enrique López Oliva

Havana, September 9 (ALC). Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, president
of the Catholic Bishops' Conference rejected declarations on the part of
the Cuban Ambassador to the Vatican Raul Roa Kouri who said that the Cuban
Bishops have historically been a strategic piece of the United States in Cuba.

Ortega affirmed that the Cuban Ambassador "accused the Cuban Catholic
hierarchy of having had (.) a position contrary to the Holy See" and placed
all the responsibility for the difficulties in the Cuban Church-State
relationship on the bishops, ignoring what corresponds to the government.

Roa, in an interview published by the agency Asca on September 3 said that
the "Cuban government has had an uninterrupted relationship with the Holy
See for the past 70 years."

He said "We hope to deepen this relationship, make it more fluid. The
relationship with Cuba and the Holy See has always been correct," he said.

He emphasized that President Fidel Castro "has always recommended
developing the relationship with the Holy See on a foundation of mutual
respect and cooperation.

Roa clarified, however, that the "Holy See has a broader vision of history
than the Cuban Catholic Church" and manifested that "in general the priests
are close to the people, while on the other hand some Bishops are very
close to the people of Miami, to Cubans who have immigrated."

The Cuban cardinal considered this statement to be "insulting" and even
injurious."

"We are all Cuban bishops who love our nation, and even though the
Ambassador tries to deny it, we serve our people," said Ortega.

He said that Roa's statements were "unacceptable and false" and asked if
they constitute "an announcement of an official position regarding the
Catholic Cuban Church."

These opinions, according to the Cardinal "create an unfavorable climate in
Cuban Church-State relations."

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NICARAGUA
CEPAD calls on government and politicians to resolve urgent problems in the
country

By Trinidad Vásquez

Managua, Sept 10 (ALC).  The Pro Denominational Alliance Council of
Evangelical Churches (CEPAD) called on the Nicaraguan government and
politicians in the country to resolve the serious problems wracking the
country rather than wasting time on conflicts that "have no meaning or
benefit."

In a statement published Thursday, CEPAD expressed concern about the
conflict between the Executive and the Legislative branch because of the
economic crisis due to rising oil costs and other issues including the
death of children due to child malnutrition affecting the poorest
communities, in particular in the Coco River, in Waspan, in the Northern
Atlantic.

"We lobby State powers to be concerned about the welfare of the Nicaraguan
people rather than spending time and resources on conflicts that have no
meaning or benefits," said the document signed by Lilliam Reyna Parrales,
president and Hedley Wilson, secretary of the organization.

The statement invoked political parties and the Nicaraguan government "to
seek solutions internally and not to call on foreign bodies to resolve our
problems."

Cornelio Tebas, Mayor of the municipality of Waspan, located more than 500
kilometers north of this capital, said that four children died two weeks
ago from severe malnourishment and that thousands of people from 40
communities on the shores of the Coco River lost their crops due to floods
and plagues.

Agro-ecologist Johana Castillo Jarquin of the NGO Nature Conservancy
confirmed the death of children in remote Nicaraguan villages and said that
hunger has forced many families to flee to Honduras.

"We call on the government to resolve this crisis and the people of
Nicaragua to show their solidarity with the residents of this region
abandoned by all the governments who have passed through this country,"
said the CEPAD statement

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Millennium Goals will not be achieved, warns Argentine Lutheran Pastor

Jerusalem, September 5 (alc) The hope of fulfilling the UN objectives for
the millennium to reduce poverty and hunger by 50% by the year 2015 is
vanishing under the weight of the foreign debt on the economies of poor
nations, said Pastor Angel Furlan, advisor to the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) Council, and responsible for the advocacy program about the foreign
debt in Latin America.

"While an illegitimate debt continues to be paid and while countries have
to earmark a quarter or third of their gross domestic product to honor it,
development will not be possible," he told ALC during the LWF meeting held
in the International Center of Bethlehem, August 31 - September 6.

The pastor of the Evangelical Argentine Lutheran Church (IELU) cited the
case of his country where recent governments have honored the debt
payments. Between 1976 and 2001, the Argentine debt went from $8 billion to
$160 billion. However, during that period Argentina paid more than $200
billion, much more than the original debt.

Paying the foreign debt condemned millions of Argentines to poverty and
social exclusion, unemployment, hunger, lack of access to basic services
like health, education and social security, he said.

For this reason, he said, the debt cannot just be looked at from the
economic angle but is also related to the dignity of the people and the
inalienable rights of each individual.

"We convoke the Churches, civil society in general to struggle for the
cancellation of the illegitimate debt, based on a common platform. This is
not a slogan but a mechanism to resolve the problem of the debt and prevent
future crises, underlined Furlan.

For us, he said, the debt is illegitimate because it was illegally and
unfairly assumed by a dictatorial government and not to benefit the people.
For this we lobby for the non payment of the debt.

He added that the origin of the loans and conditions under which they were
granted should be examined. Countries and bodies that provided loans to
dictatorial government and moreover used the foreign debt as a mechanism to
impose inefficient economic adjustment policies are also co-responsible and
should assume part of the responsibility.

He recognized that the declaration of the illegitimate nature of the debt
is not an easy theme but it is not time to cede now. "It is not possible to
construct a better world based on impunity," he said. All cases of
illegitimate debt should be denounced and agreements sought for its total
cancellation, said Furlan.

The Argentine religious underscored the upcoming convocation for an
international consultation of Churches and Christian organizations from the
Southern and Northern hemispheres to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina
next October. The aim of the meeting, convened by the Lutheran World
Federation and the Latin American Council of Churches is to place common
platforms on the table and design a strategy to address the issue of the
illegitimate foreign debt.

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President of the Palestine Authority lauds support from Lutheran World
Federation

Jerusalem, September 5 (ALC). The President of the Palestine Liberation
Organization, Mahmoud Abbas lauded the Lutheran World Federation for its
support and commitment to the Palestinian people in their search for a just
peace in the Holy Land.

I know how much you are doing for our people, for the Muslims, the
Christians and for Jerusalem," Abbas told Bishop Mark Hanson, Bishop Munib
Younan and Dr. Ismael Noko, president and vice president for the Asia
region and general LWF secretary respectively during a meeting, held in the
PLO offices in the city of Gaza on September 3.

The leaders of the LWF met with Abbas in the framework of the LWF Council
Meeting held in the International Bethlehem Center, 10 kms south of
Jerusalem from August 31 - September 6.

The conversation with the Palestinian leader focused on the peace process
in the Middle East, the future of the Lutheran schools, services offered by
the Augusta Victoria hospital in eastern Jerusalem and inter-religious
relations.

Regarding the recent withdrawal of Israeli settlements from the Gaza, Abbas
emphasized the need to "take advantage of the moment and work hard to
return to the Peace Road Map" developed by the United States, in
cooperation with Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

The President of the PLO considered the recent withdrawal from the Gaza as
a starting point and said that additional withdrawals must be carried out.
The Palestinians need to "commit" the Israelis to peace issues, he said.

He expressed Palestine's objection to the Israeli security wall, stating
that he was not convinced it would protect Israel. The Israeli authorities
argue that wall helps stop possible suicide attacks.

Hanson, who is also president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
(ECLA) said that the fact that the LWF Council meeting was held in
Jerusalem and Bethlehem is a demonstration of the longstanding commitment
with the Palestinian people. "We are praying for you," Hanson told Abbas.

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Lutheran World Federation calls for an end to Israeli occupation

Jerusalem, September. 6 (ALC). A public declaration reiterating its call
for an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory and lauding the
withdrawal of Israeli colonizers from the Gaza as a first step to return to
the peace road map was approved by the Lutheran World Federation Council
(FLM) at the end of its sessions Tuesday.

In a statement entitled, "Challenged to a ministry of reconciliation in the
Holy Land" the LWF leadership body also supported the solution of the two
states, Palestine and Israel with a shared city Jerusalem.

The Council, which represents 66 million Lutherans in more than 77
countries in the world, shares its concern about the construction of the
wall ordered by the Israeli government and its impact on the daily lives of
the Palestinians.

According to the statement, freedom of movement is compromised or
prohibited. It cited the cases of people whose families are separated when
they are denied the required residency permit, granted at the discretion of
the Israeli authority.

It also mentions cases of demolitions of Palestinian housing, the creation
of Israeli settlements in occupied territory, forcing Palestinians to leave
their lands.

It sustained that justice and the laws must be respected and should prevail
in the region. It added that constructing reconciliation and establishing
justice requires a mutual recognition of the needs of the other.

"We have heard the fears of the Israelis and the anger of the Palestinians.
And we have remembered that the safety and liberty of each is
inter-dependent," it added.

The Council agreed to continue supporting inter-religious dialogue and to
work for peace, justice and reconciliation in the Holy Land.
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