“Return to the calm after the storm”

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Cardinal Philippe Barbarin © Pierre-Antoine Pluquet (CBA)

Archbishop of Lyon, who left early, gets new job: Cardinal Philippe Barbarin will serve as pastor in Brittany in the future. On Sunday, his farewell mass will be celebrated in Lyon.

From July, he will be a domestic chaplain at the headquarters of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor (Petites soeurs des pauvres) in Saint Pern, near Rennes, as he told radio station LFC Lyon on Thursday. At the personal request of the archbishop of Rennes, Pierre d'Ornellas, he will also teach at the seminary there.

Barbarin wants to start new chapter

Barbarin will be bidden farewell Sunday during a Mass at Lyon Cathedral. In March, he had resigned from his post as archbishop. A French appeals court had acquitted him in January of charges of failing to report sexual abuse. Nevertheless, he made his post available to give the Archdiocese of Lyon the opportunity to start a new chapter, as the cardinal explained at the time.

"My true vocation is to be a priest," the cardinal stressed. In addition to church services, this includes close contact with the faithful. He was also "very pleased" with the "return to calm after the storm".

Mission trips to the Middle East not ruled out

However, the cardinal also did not rule out still being sent on missionary trips to the Middle East by Pope Francis. "He told me that he wanted me to be available for missions in countries I know well, like Iraq, Lebanon or Israel," Barbarin said. However, he added, there has not yet been a concrete assignment.

Pope Francis gave the leadership of the archdiocese on a transitional basis to the former bishop of Evry-Corbeille-Essonnes, Michel Dubost (78). Barbarin herself was received by Pope Francis during a private audience at the Vatican in late May. There was no information on the content of the meeting.

Barbarin is one of six French cardinals and, as Archbishop of Lyon, also held the honorary title of Primate of Gaul.

The Vatican has called for greater participation of women in social decision-making processes.
This is not just a matter of equality, but also of the specific perspectives women can contribute, Vatican representative Archbishop Celestino Migliore told the UN General Assembly in New York.

"This 'feminine genius' will prove highly valuable as women increasingly play a role in solving the serious problems facing the world," Migliore said, according to the text of the speech released Friday by the Vatican.Empowerment of women also means equal pay for equal work, fairness in promotion opportunities and equal rights for married couples. At the same time, women who choose to be housewives and mothers must be respected, said the Vatican representative. Microcredit programs for women's empowerment Studies have shown that micro-credit programs contribute to far-reaching improvements in the status of women in poor regions, the archbishop added. As a result, women gained more recognition, provided health and education for their families, and played a leading role in reducing poverty. However, the so-called microfinance system is not a panacea and is not free of abuse, the Vatican representative acknowledged.Migliore stressed that the demand for equality must go hand in hand with the recognition of differences between the sexes. There is a tendency to blur differences between men and women or to consider them as mere historical or cultural conditionalities, he said. Empowerment of women can only occur if differences are recognized and the cultural aspect of gender roles is seen in the right context, the archbishop said.

Khorchide accuses author of 'distorted image of islam

Thilo Sarrazin earns sharp criticism… © Michael Kappeler

…By Mouhanad Khorchide © Caroline Seidel

Accompanied by protests, Thilo Sarrazin read from his book "Hostile Takeover" in Munster and reiterated his theses on the threat posed to society by Islam. Muslim theologian Mouhanad Khorchide countered vehemently.

He accuses Islam critic Thilo Sarrazin of backing extremists. "You read the Koran like an Islamic fundamentalist," said the director of the Center for Islamic Theology (ZIT) at the University of Munster on Tuesday evening at a panel in the Westphalian metropolis.

Black and white painting

At the same time, Khorchide accused the former Berlin finance senator and book author of bias and black-and-white painting. "You make it too easy for yourself if you claim: Islam is dumb and is getting dumber, and as a result society is also getting dumber," Khorchide said. "We don't need enemy images in our society, but we must stick together."

At the beginning of the event, which was organized by the economic liberal Hayek Club Munsterland, Sarrazin had presented his controversial book "Hostile Takeover" to an audience of about 300 people. "What worries us about the behavior of Muslims is explained by a mentality shaped by the Koran," Sarrazin said.

The Koran favors authoritarianism, strains the relationship between the sexes, promotes backwardness and hinders freedom of opinion and democracy. "The hatred of the infidel conveyed in the Koran gives Islam its expansive power of conquest," Sarrazin explained.

Non-Muslims do not have equal rights in any Muslim country in the world, conservative and fundamentalist currents are on the rise everywhere. "I warn of a creeping Islamization through demographic overwhelming," the book author repeated one of his controversial core theses. In front of the venue in the Munster-Hiltrup town hall, around 100 people from the "Not one meter to the Nazis" alliance demonstrated at the start of the discussion.

Energetic contradiction

Khorchide vigorously disagreed with Sarrazin, accusing him of painting a bleak, frightening picture. Islam must be viewed in a much more differentiated way, he said. There are also many positive tendencies, especially among young Muslims. "The real problem is political Islam creeping into German foundations and educational institutions, and we don't recognize the danger," warned Islamic theologian.

The important thing is to educate Muslims and change their attitudes. "For this, I would like to see mechanisms of accompaniment from the German state," Khorchide says. He himself had just founded a liberal Muslim community in North Rhine-Westphalia and invited all Muslims to join in. "The future depends on us Muslims and our work," the Islamic scholar emphasized.

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