Catholic Church in the Czech Republic Website provided by Czech Bishop Conference

This morning (7 December), the 11th public session of the pontifical academies was held in the Vatican's New Synod Hall. This year's event was organized by the Pontifical Academy of the Immaculate and the Pontifical International Marian Academy on the theme: "Mary Immaculate, Mother of all men, icon of beauty and of divine charity." Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

"Cesta domů" (The Homecoming) is a hospice civic association that aspires to improve fundamentally the care of the terminally ill, the dying, and their families in the Czech Republic. Now it offers a new way of help: you can contribute to the terminally ill and dying by purchasing a present at the "Cesta domů" office in Prague. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Apostolic Nuncio Diego Causero will preside over the mass at the Dominican Church of St Giles in Prague on Friday 8 December at 6.30 pm. He will bless a statue of St Martin de Porres, the Dominican saint. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

The Holy Father Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Stanisław Wojciech Wielgus of Płock as metropolitan archbishop of Warsaw, Poland. He succeeds Cardinal Józef Glemp, whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit. Cardinal Glemp continues to be the Polish Primate. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

The Catholic Church has good relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and is not trying to engage in proselytism, said the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, yesterday, 5 December, in response to the Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II's appeal to the Holy See to stop its "unfriendly" actions toward the Orthodox Church in Russia. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Russian Patriarch Alexiy II accused the Catholic Church of "hostile policy" and converting the Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church. Such acts can make worse the Orthodox-Catholic negotiations, he said. The Holy See refuses these accusations and says the Catholic Church only takes care of her believers in Russia. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Father Sami Al-Rais, rector of the major Chaldean Seminary and Moral Theology teacher at the Faculty of Theology, Babel College, in Baghdad, was kidnapped on Monday 4 December 2006. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

The Peace Light of Bethlehem will arrive to Vienna on Saturday 16 December 2006 and Czech Scouts will take it to Brno. The distribution will be provided by regular trains throughout the country on Sunday 17 December. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

After his 10-year service, Father Adrián Zemek OPraem left office of the Vicar General of the diocese of Plzeň (Pilsen). His successor is Father Robert Falkenauer, up to now the bishop's deputy for education and foreign relations. On Friday 8 December at 8 am in St Bartholomew Cathedral in Plzeň, Bishop František Radkovský will celebrate the mass, thank Zemek and welcome the new Vicar General Falkenauer. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

On 4 December, the Holy See Press Office released a communiqué concerning the matter of the construction of a skyscraper near the historic Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Joseph in Bucharest, Romania. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.