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A new $5 million Anglican Centre is to be built in Spain in Santiago de Compostela, the end of the world-famous Catholic pilgrimage route the Way of St James. The Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain, which is part of the Anglican Community under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is to begin fundraising with the help of Trinity Church, Wall Street in the United States. The new Anglican centre in Spain will have instant and enormous appeal to Christians from through the Anglican Communion worldwide. Santiago de Compostela is believed to be the burial site of the disciple James,...

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A King Balthazar statue stolen from a nativity scene in a Spanish city turned up with a note protesting the use of razor wire on the Moroccan border. The life-sized figurine, stolen from Santiago de Compostela's Plaza del Obradoiro Friday morning, was found outside the office of the General Secretariat for Emigration with a sign denouncing the use of razor wire on the border between Morocco and Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, TheLocal.es reported Tuesday. The razor wire has been controversial, with many arguing it inflicts injuries on desperate migrants. The...

This film is a must see, We saw it last night and it was one of the best films I have ever seen.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "I've stopped using the word coincidence" to describe how the upcoming film "The Way" got made, said its writer-director-producer, Emilio Estevez. "It was providence. ... It was the divine." "The Way," which stars Estevez's father, Martin Sheen, tells the story of four Westerners walking the 500-mile pilgrimage route from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Sheen, who joked during a Feb. 18 interview with Catholic News Service that "I did my own walking" in the movie without a stunt double's help, recalled the first time he tried to make the pilgrimage himself. "It was in...

Troops bear 'Moor Killer' badges Giles Tremlett in Madrid Friday July 25, 2003 The Guardian (UK)A row broke out in Spain yesterday after the country sent its first troops to patrol Iraq wearing on their shoulders the Cross of St James of Compostela - popularly known in Spain as "the Moor Killer". Patches bearing the cross, the symbol of a saint who allegedly guided the medieval Christian re conquista of Spain from the Muslims, are to be worn by a 2,000-strong Spanish brigade in central Iraq, who will patrol the sacred Shia city of Najaf. While newspapers and radio stations...

Iberia looms large in Islamist ambitions and regrets, writes Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid. Thursday's bombings have raised an uncomfortable question for Spaniards. Is Osama bin Laden dreaming of exacting revenge for the loss of Al-Andalus, the ancient Moorish kingdom in Iberia? A group said to be close to bin Laden's al-Qaeda, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, sent a message to a London-based Arabic newspaper saying: "This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader and America's ally in its war against Islam." While the authenticity of the message is open to doubt, there is no question that...

Santiago cathedral is to lose its politically incorrect sculpture A STATUE of Spain’s patron saint, Saint James “the Moorslayer”, is to be removed from one of the country’s most famous cathedrals and pilgrimage centres in case it offends Muslims. The decision, announced by Santiago Cathedral’s church authorities, has outraged traditional Catholics, many of whom still light candles and pray to the 18th-century statue in the tiny chapel inside one of Christendom’s three greatest pilgrim places of worship. Although the cathedral’s spokesman insisted the decision was taken four months ago to remove the Moorslayer sculpture — which depicts the sword-wielding apostle...

A statue in a Spanish cathedral showing St James slicing the heads off Moorish invaders is to be removed to avoid causing offence to Muslims. Cathedral authorities in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, on Spain's north west coast, plan to move the statue to the museum. Among the reasons for the move is to avoid upsetting the "sensitivities of other ethnic groups". The statue of St James "the Moor-slayer" is expected to be replaced by one depicting the calmer image of St James "the Pilgrim", by the same 18th century artist, Jose Gambino. The Saracen-slaying image of St...

A statue in a Spanish cathedral showing St James slicing the heads off Moorish invaders is to be removed to avoid causing offence to Muslims. Cathedral authorities in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, on Spain's north west coast, plan to move the statue to the museum. Among the reasons for the move is to avoid upsetting the "sensitivities of other ethnic groups".

President Bush (news - web sites)'s daughter, Jenna, right, walks with unidentified friends on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, Wednesday June 2, 2004. Jenna and her friends started the estimated 112 mile (180 kilometer) pilgrimage last Saturday and are expected to arrive in Santiago Thursday after completing 19 miles (30 kilometers) a day. (AP Photo/EFE, Lavandeira jr)

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA – For centuries, Catholic pilgrims made this sacred journey across Spain for heavenly rewards. This summer, the throngs arriving in Santiago de Compostela have found more-immediate gratification: concerts by Lou Reed, The Cure, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Welcome to Xacobeo, the festival honoring the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, which finishes here in the rolling green hills of northwestern Spain. Once the domain of devout Catholics, the 420-mile trek across the country to honor the Apostle James has been transformed into a pop-culture spectacle. Jenna Bush did it. So did the Queen of Spain. Even...

Jihad in the West, 'Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries' by Paul Fregosi Preface(pp. 15-18) There is a link between terrorism known as Jihad today, with wars of Muslim expansion beginning with Muhammad. All expressions of Islam's basic distaste for the outside world. Most Muslims claim crusades are the origin of the conflict between Islam and Christianity, but this is the wrong way around. The first crusade was in 1096 AD. Jihad had already been going on for 500 years by then. IntroductionThe Holy War that Isn't (pp. 19-27) Definition of Jihad: not attempt to convert people...

Cordoba, 28 Dec. (AKI) - The Bishop of the southern city of Cordoba, Juan Jose Asenjo, has turned down a request from its Muslim community to be allowed to pray with Christians in its cathedral - a former mosque. Asenjo was quoted as saying the joint use of consecrated places of worship would "generate confusion" and lead to "religious indifference". Asenjo also said that the Bishopric had valid legal documents entitling the Catholic Church to sole use of the building. Moreover, while Catholics are able to live in peace with other faiths, and the Cordoba Diocese wants to maintain its...

Few buildings are as emblematic of Europe's Muslim past as the Great Mosque in Cordoba. The southern Spanish city was once the capital of Moorish Spain, where the mosque was promoted as the third Islamic pilgrimage site after the Kaaba of Mecca and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Declared a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1984, the stunning mosque pays tribute to the architectural and artistic achievements of Muslim Spain, which also shone as a beacon of science and scholarship in 10th-century Europe. Cordoba residents still often call the building "mezquita" (mosque), though it has in fact been used...