NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      MADRID, 3 (NE) Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco, Archbishop of Madrid, was elected yesterday new President of the Spanish Bishop's Conference. Also, Cardinal Ricard Marķa Carles, Archbishop of Barcelona, was named vice-president of the Spanish episcopate. Both Cardinals, as well as the rest elected for the different directive offices, will carry out their service for a three-year term, ending year 2002.

      In a press conference after the election, Cardinal Rouco pointed out that his duties in the Archdioceses of Madrid on one hand, and those of the Episcopal Conference on the other, convey no small amount of difficulties. Nevertheless he affirmed that he was prepared to adopt the responsibility "with a supernatural and serving spirit." He highlighted as well that a key challenge for the Church in Spain throughout the next years would be to fight secularism in society.