Christchurch 'super-cathedral' plans discussed

REPORTS in New Zealand last week suggested that Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Christchurch, New Zealand, were discussing plans to share a "super-cathedral". It was announced in November that Christchurch Cathedral, which was hit by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake last year (News, 4 March 2011), was to be partially demolished (News, 2 November 2011). The Bishop of Christchurch, the Rt Revd Victoria Matthews, told Fairfax Media: "There are conversations about this going on, but those conversations are with ourselves. . . It is fair to say there are many individuals in the diocese who would welcome the idea."

Israeli government failing Christians, says Vatican official

THE Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said last Friday that the Israeli government was failing to respond adequately to discrimination against Christians. Fr Pizzaballa issued a statement after graffiti was scrawled on the Monastery of the Silent Monks at Latrun, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Tuesday of last week (News, 7 September). "The time has come for the authorities to act to put an end to this senseless violence," he said, "and to ensure a 'teaching of respect' in schools for all those who call this land home." He said that the attack on Latrun was "only another in a long series of attacks against Christians and their places of worship".