Vittorio Bellavite, We Are Church (Italy), and François Becker, FHEDLES, represented us at the World Social Forum. A flavour of the gathering is in the video.

During an interview with Iglesia Descalza, Sr Teresa Forcades was asked

So, don't you think the time has come for the "necessary renewal" of the Church which you advocate in your book?

She replied: Any change in history, both at the church and the societal level, has started from below. When John XXIII was chosen, for example, there were already renewal movements like Nouvelle Théologie in France and the Movimiento Litúrgico, which was very important here in Montserrat. Well, I see something similar happening now: constructive and faithful criticism is rising from the grassroots so that -- I don't know if it will be this pope -- but the time will come when it can't be ignored.

Read the rest of the interview

Begun in March 2013

[French] [German] [Portuguese]

What do you think will happen with this Pope?

He's going to turn things around like John XXIII. He has already started making gestures. The first, which had an impact on those who saw it, was when he went out on the balcony in his white caplet and said: "Before giving you the blessing, I'm going to ask you to give it to me." He turned it around, put the people ahead of power. That was in Vatican II.

Read the whole interview on Iglesia Descalza

[French] - [Portuguese] - [German] - [Spanish] - [Italian]

The opening day of the Conclave has not yet been decided; but today as in 2005, there are great expectations that this might mark a turning point in the Church and make the gospel of Jesus more and more heard in ourworld. The problems experienced during the pontificate of John Paul II are still unresolved, or have worsened.  Nonetheless the conviction remains that the situation can change for the Word of salvation is powerful.

It is the duty of the College of Cardinals to recognise the seriousness of the situation, to read the signs of times. The Cardinals have in their hands both the book of the Gospel and the documents of the Second Vatican Council. They must read them, and meditate on them. Within them are the directions, sometimes implicit but often very explicit, for the road the Church must travel. The expectations of those who appeal to the Council have already often been voiced. “We are Church” has contributed to raising issues about the Church as a whole, but with especial emphasis on the reform of the Papacy, because that is the key to the entire structure of what is the modern Catholic Church. We shall briefly recall four main issues.