Anti-pope march in planning

adminonNovember 18, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The protest plans against the Berlin visit of Benedict XVI. on 22. September in Berlin become more concrete: Pope opponents have already registered a demonstration for this day. Protests had it also with the visit of John Paul II. given 15 years ago in Berlin.

The organizers, representatives of the Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) Berlin-Brandenburg, expect up to 50.000 participants. However, the protest march has not yet been approved by the authorities, according to the second "network meeting" of Berlin critics of the Pope's visit.

According to the plan so far, the demonstration will lead from Schoneberg's Nollendorfplatz via Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Gate. A closing rally is scheduled there. Activities of individual protest groups are to take place at "fixed points" such as the AIDS memorial "Against Forgetting" at the Urania education center and the "Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted under National Socialism" in the Tiergarten park. The proposal to include the Jesuit high school Canisius-Kolleg met with applause. The cases of abuse made public there a good year ago triggered the ongoing nationwide debate.

With a "Papamobile" and four "Popes", the LSVD wants to promote the demonstration at the annual parade of Berlin lesbians and gays on Christopher Street Day in June. Further "imaginative actions", panel discussions or readings are in preparation and are to take place primarily after the summer break.

The network meeting was again attended by about 50 members of, among others, the Green Party, the organization Pro Familia and the church-critical Giordano Bruno Foundation. They passed a resolution calling on Benedict XVI. accused of an "anti-human gender and sexual politics".

Protests also against Pope John Paul II.
Benedict XVI. begins his four-day official visit to Germany on 22. September in the German capital. On his arrival, he is first received by German President Christian Wulff. A meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and a speech in the Bundestag are planned. Also scheduled to meet with representatives of Judaism and Islam. A large public papal service is expected to take place on the forecourt of Charlottenburg Palace. Benedict XVI will stay overnight. at the Apostolic Nunciature. On 23. September Benedict XVI travels. continues to Thuringia and then also visits Baden-Wurttemberg.

Protests had also occurred during the visit of Pope John Paul II. 15 years ago in Berlin, for example at the gay and lesbian city festival in the Schoneberg district. In addition, a demonstration took place at the time with more than 2.000 participants took place, dressing up as nuns, monks or devils and proclaiming a "counter-papacy". They marched from Schoneberg's Winterfeldtplatz toward the Brandenburg Gate. Along the route of the pope through the city, there were sometimes loud protests with egg throwing at the "papamobile". Joining the trip at the time was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

The Catholic Church in Norway has confirmed abuse allegations against the former bishop of Trondheim. Georg Muller, who comes from Germany, had already confessed to the sexual abuse of a minor in 2009, the bishop of Oslo, Bernt Eidsvig announced.

he incident, which is time-barred under Norwegian criminal law, was also the real reason for Muller's resignation in the summer of 2009, said Eidsvig, who continues to officiate in Trondheim as apostolic administrator. Since then, Muller has not carried out any pastoral activities.

Compensation for the sacrifice According to media reports Muller was at the time of the crime more than 20 years ago already active as a priest in Trondheim. The victim, who is now about 30 years old and was an altar boy at the time, reportedly received compensation from the church of between 400.000 and 500.000 kronor, the equivalent of about 50.000 to 65.000 euros. Eidsvig further announced that the Apostolic Nunciature in the Swedish capital Stockholm was entrusted with clarifying the incident last year. Finally, on Tuesday, he received from the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, Cardinal William Levada, "the difficult task" of informing the public about the entire process. However, additional details about the case would not be disclosed at the request of the victim. Muller's other abuses are not known, he said. It is the practice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to make information about abuse cases public only with the consent of the victims, the Vatican statement said.

Acts concealed Muller, who comes from Volkesfeld, near Trier, had been in charge of the territorial prelature in central Norway, with its approximately 2.Led 500 Catholics as apostolic administrator since 1988 and as bishop since 1997. In the summer of 2009, he resigned from the post. At the time, the Vatican referred to a provision of church law that requires a bishop to resign if he is "no longer quite able to carry out his official duties" for health or other serious reasons. Muller was appointed on 7. Born in June 1951, he joined the Arnstein Fathers in 1972. After studies at the Simpelveld religious center in the Netherlands and in Munster, he was ordained priest in 1978. In 1981 he came to the prelature of Trondheim, the following year he became vicar general. In regions with low numbers of Catholics, the Vatican usually does not establish dioceses, but lower structures such as vicariates or prelatures. Like Trondheim, Tromsoe, further north, has the rank of territorial prelature. In contrast, the church district of the capital Oslo has the status of a diocese.

Tea from India's Darjeeling region is among the best and most expensive in the world. But the pickers get only a starvation wage. In an interview with the CBA, Anuradha Talwar, an Indian trade unionist, makes demands on politicians and business.

Catholic News Agency (KNA): Ms. Talwar, under what conditions do the pickers work on the plantations in West Bengal??

Anuradha Talwar: Working conditions are very poor. It is an unfair system. A picker must deliver 25 to 30 baskets of leaves a day to earn a daily wage equivalent to about 1.50 euros. This yields up to seven baskets of finished tea, which fetches around 495 euros on the market. So the pickers get only a fraction of the final amount. In addition to the hard work, the health and education systems are in poor condition. In addition, people live directly on the plantations in houses of the administration. Employers can evict pickers whenever they want to.

CBA: They draw special attention to the situation of women on the plantations. Why are the female pickers worse off than their male colleagues??
Talwar: Women make up 60 to 70 percent of the labor force on plantations. Because the work is thus considered women's work, it is also paid less. It's a downward spiral. Many men have left the plantations in recent years and so women have also had to take on hard work in the factories or the night shifts. And they only ever work as pickers. They are hardly to be found in high positions or in the companies. The cases of human trafficking that occur also mainly involve women and children. When pickers complain of sexual harassment, no one in the gardens cares.

CBA: There are also closures of plantations again and again. What happens then to the workers who even live on the plantations?

Talwar: People there are struggling to survive. They often work in quarries on the site. At work, they ruin the fine hands they need to pick tea. In addition, serious injuries such as broken bones often occur. But medical care is poor. The people there existed from less than 1.200 calories a day. That is shocking. Going to a closed tea garden is a depressing experience. The people there are hopeless.

CBA: Is there any help for people from the Indian state?

Talwar: The government has passed laws to ensure the livelihood and medical care of the people in the abandoned tea gardens. Since then, the deaths and hunger there have also decreased. But some large companies do not report these gardens as closed. The government is not aggressive enough and does not want to mess with the companies.

CBA: The G7 countries set a goal at the last summit to improve working conditions in international supply chains. What do you demand from politics and industry?

Talwar: Germany is one of the largest importers of high quality tea from India. Therefore, especially German companies have the responsibility to exert prere. They need to monitor the whole supply chain and ensure fair wages and good working conditions even at the end of the chain. They must not shift responsibility to the countries where the workers live. After all, they are making a very good business from trade while others are starving. There also needs to be more transparency in supply chains. From my point of view, the promises of the G7 countries are not effective because they are not binding.

CBA: Would an agreement along the lines of the textile alliance of Development Minister Gerd Muller (CSU) be a solution??

Talwar: This is also a voluntary approach. A businessman who wants to make a profit knows exactly what he is doing. To ame that this person will stick to voluntary agreements is naive. As long as people can still remember the shock of Rana Plaza, such an alliance will work. But once people forget about it, they return to normalcy. We need a standard that is binding for companies all over the world.

CBA: What do they think of the many tea projects by organizations like Oxfam that also advocate for transparency in supply chains?

Talwar: These campaigns are good. They draw attention to the problems, make people think. It's not enough to donate money because people are miserable elsewhere. People must learn not to be just consumers and start asking questions of politicians and, above all, companies. Look all the way down the global supply chain!

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