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Serbs, Russians want NATO to back off, allow UN to take charge as latter holds key to either peace progress or impasse

      With Russian and Serb military leaders affirming they would not serve under NATO command, wiser heads have called for the UN to take charge of overseeing troops at the border to please all parties just as the Holy Father first suggested and conveyed to Kofi Annan late last week. The security council is weighing the options even as NATO continues the bombing which is not endearing the people of the Balkans to them. For more, click on UN holds key to progress or impasse?.

      NEW YORK (CWNews.com) -- As the UN Security Council prepared to discuss a peace proposal aimed at ending the war in Kosovo, NATO aircraft continued to strike targets in Yugoslavia.

      The latest peace plan would call for an international peacekeeping force under UN command to enter Kosovo and ensure the safe return of refugees from the province. Both Yugoslavia and Russia had balked at an earlier plan, submitted by NATO, which would have called for peacekeeping troops under NATO control. Yugoslavia has consistently said that the force must include soldiers from Eastern European countries, and Russian leaders have said that their troops will not serve under NATO command.

      Intense diplomatic activities continued on June 8 as NATO leadership shored up support for the peace proposal. Representatives of the "G8" industrial countries huddled before the Security Council meeting, US President Bill Clinton sent a special envoy to Moscow to confer with Russian leaders, and Finland's President Martti Ahtisaari-- acting on behalf of the European Union-- traveled to Beijing, hoping to ensure that China would not use its seat on the Security Council to stall a peace agreement.

Innocent Iraqi people suffer senseless strafing meant for Saddam

      Proving what the Chaldean Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid had claimed that the United States military force continues to strafe the Iraqi people while the world focuses on the Balkans, it was confirmed on Tuesday that American Bombers hit several targets which sadly is not hurting Saddam Hussein but the innocent Iraqi people. For more, click on Iraqi people feeling blunt of bombing.

      BAGHDAD (CWNews.com) -- American bombers struck several Iraqi targets on Tuesday, June 8, after complaining that Iraqi anti-aircraft units were firing at US planes in the "no-fly" zone of northern Iraq.

      US military sources said that the planes, "responding in self defense," hit communications posts near the city of Mosul. The bombers reportedly returned to their bases in Turkey without further incident.

      Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid of Baghdad has complained that the air strikes on Iraq-- combined with the longstanding trade restrictions on that country-- are causing immense suffering among the civilian population, at a time when the world's attention is concentrated on the Balkans.

New document places women's cloistered congregations under jurisdiction of the Holy See

      A special document on religious, cloistered and contemplative life for women religious has been released by Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, head of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. In the document titled "Verbi Sponsa" which means "Bride of the Word," the Holy See sets down parameters for cloistered orders in dealing with the new millennium as well as addressing safeguards against modern technology in regard the contemplative life. For more, click on Verbi Sponsa .

      VATICAN CITY, JUN 7 (ZENIT).- The Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life recently published a document on the life of women religious, entitled "Verbi Sponsa" [Bride of the Word]. This writing is intended to answer the questions inherent in consecrated life in the Third Millennium, particularly as regards technological advances.

      The document was prepared to help cloistered convents reflect on the conclusions of the Synod of Bishops of the world on the consecrated life, which were addressed in John Paul II's exhortation "Vita Consecrata," dated March 25, 1996.

      The first chapter of the document is dedicated to the meaning and value of the cloistered life. It is followed by an analysis of the different forms of cloister, paying special attention and giving certain norms to the cloister under the "direct" jurisdiction of the Holy See.

      In principle, the Vatican Congregation recommends that the separation from the world be a concrete experience, as opposed to merely symbolic. In addressing particular situations, the instruction analyzes the "grave causes" which justify entrance or departure from the convent.

      Special attention is given to relations with the media and new technology. The sober and prudent use of television, both in regard to the quality as well as the quantity of programs, is recommended. There is a reminder that for those who live in interior silence, a picture or news item can have far greater emotional impact and, consequently, make recollection that much more difficult.

      After careful discernment, permission is granted to use the fax, mobile phones and the Internet for the convent's activities.

      The third part of the document focuses on formation, emphasizing the importance that this be carried out in the community to which the religious belongs.

      The last pages mention associations and federations of convents, which provide support in promoting the values of contemplative life, while not affecting the autonomy of each convent.

      There are 55,709 cloistered nuns in the world, belonging to 3,601 autonomous convents. ZE99060701

Guadalajara's Archbishop Cardinal Sandoval recuperating after surgery

      It was revealed Tuesday that sixty-six year-old Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez was recuperating from surgery for intestinal thrombosis that had to be taken care of because of lymphatic clots. The five-year archbishop of this city a couple hundred miles northwest of Mexico City is resting in Santa Margarita hospital and is expected to make a full recovery reasonably soon. For more, see Cardinal recovering

      MEXICO CITY, 8 (NE) Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez is recovering at the "Santa Margarita" hospital after an operation due to an intestinal thrombosis, informed this week the Department of Communication of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara. The statement released also explained that the Cardinal's health is stable and that he is slowly getting better. Cardinal Sandoval -Archbishop of Guadalajara since 1994- had to be urgently intervened during the weekend after suffering an intestinal thrombosis. His full recuperation is expected in the next days.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and the features, dossiers and Daily Dispatches at ZENIT International News Agency. CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

    Today we present another site from Poland in honor of the Holy Father's visit there. It is a home page but it is in English and gives a brief history of Catholicism in this Eastern European country that has given us many saints and our present Pontiff. The site is called CATHOLICISM IN POLAND and maintained by Lukasz Bielecki out of Poznan, Poland.

Click here to return to SECTION ONE and SECTION TWO or click here to return to the graphics front page of this issue.

June 9, 1999 volume 10, no. 111   DAILY CATHOLIC