MONTREAL (CNS): The fire that ravaged a large part of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, offered an opportunity reflection on the impact the event can have on faith.
 
Popular French Catholic singer, Gregory Turpin, who joined thousands of Parisians at the scene of the tragedy, said “there is something violent and shocking” about the fire.
 

WARSAW (CNS): Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe, which is linked to the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, warned of growing “anti-Christian hostility” in France, identifying a spate of assaults on churches and Christian monuments.
 

LOURDES (CNS): To permit euthanasia would be to “inscribe in the heart of our society the transgression of the civilizing imperative: ‘You shall not kill,’” said a statement from 118 French bishops opposing the country’s drift toward legal euthanasia.
 
At the end of meeting at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, the bishops—an overwhelming majority of the French Bishops’ Conference—declared that euthanasia would damage the sense of fraternity that held their society together.
 

PARIS (SE): Why western nations get indignant about China removing crosses from churches in Zhejiang and other parts of the country but think it is fair enough to remove them in their own backyards can be a bit of a mystery.
 
However, the Conseil d’Etat in France (Council of Administration or Discipline) has judged that a monument honouring Pope John Paul II in the city of Ploermel, which features a large arch with a crucifix on top, violates the principle of separation of Church and state.
 

PARIS (SE): On the day that Emmanuel Macron was elected as the new president of France, a meeting of a different kind took place in the diocese of Le Havre, far from Paris in the northwest of the country.
 
Bishop Jean-Luc Brunin had sent out invitations to people who have been through the experience of a separation or a divorce, as well as to those who are divorced and remarried to come to a gathering on May 7 for a day of sharing and fellowship.
 

PARIS (AsiaNews): Thousands Christians were joined by their Muslim brothers and sisters at a gathering held at Saint-Etienne-du Rouvray on July 26 in memory of Father Jacques Hamel, who was murdered while celebrating Mass by two men who proclaimed their act as a victory for the Islamic State.
 
The tribute to the 85-year-old priest on the first anniversary of his death began at 9.00am with a Mass broadcast on national television celebrated by Archbishop Dominique Lebrun, from Rouen, in the very church where Father Hamel had spilled his blood.

PARIS (SE): In taking a couple of rather pointed digs at the two candidates for the run off of the presidential election in France, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, the Conference of the Bishops of France isolated respect for the weakest members of society, migration and loyalty as citizens of Europe as the three main principles that people should seek to protect in casting their vote on May 7.

SEOUL (UCAN): An official delegation representing the French Catholic Bishops’ Conference visited South Korea from October 14 to 23 to pay homage to various holy places, including Galmaemot and Saenamteo, where nine French missionaries were beheaded during the 1866 Byeongin Persecution.

A total of 66 people, including Jean-Pierre Cardinal Ricard, from Bordeaux, and five other bishops made the trip to strengthen ongoing relations between the local Korean and French Churches.

VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis met privately at the Vatican with French president, Francois Hollande, who said he felt it necessary to thank the pope in person for his words after the slaying of a French priest and other terrorist attacks in France.

Hollande arrived in Rome on August 17 and went directly to the French national church, St. Louis, to visit a chapel which was set up as a place of prayer for the victims of terrorism.