theuniverse

Sunday January 8, 2012 www.totalcatholic.com

Free Calendar with this Issue

Our publications reach more than 200,000 readers every week in the UK and Ireland £1.30 €1.75

A warm welcome to Bavaria’s ice new church

Gabby Logan’s got the key to musical success Page 17

A Catholic priest walks inside a church made of ice in the Bavarian village of Mitterfirmiansreut, near the German-Czech border. The church is likely to become a tourist attraction until the spring.

Bishop’s appeal after Indian student killing

By Ben Glaze and Lee Siggs

A bishop has called for people to pray for the causes of the emptiness which led to the killing of an Indian student on Boxing Day.

The Bishop of Salford, Terence Brain, said the killing of Anuj Bidve was “a dreadful tragedy made more so in that it happened within the celebration of Christmas”. Mr Bidve died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the head as he walked along Ordsall Lane in Salford.

Earlier this week, hundreds of people held a candle-lit vigil at the site where Mr Bidve was killed.

Friends of the 23-year-old joined members of the local community for the event.

Bishop Brain said: “A young man’s life was stolen when we were all rejoicing at the gift from God of the birth of the Christ child. We offer our prayers and condolences to the

Bidve family, and pray that the Lord who comes to us at Christmas welcomes him into eternal life.”

The bishop added that the killing was “a dreadful tragedy in that it was apparently so random and motiveless; how empty must be the life of the person who stole Anuj’s life? That too is a dreadful tragedy and we must pray about the causes of such emptiness”.

At the vigil, held at the spot which days ago had still been a crime-scene, a Hindu priest sang prayers and read out aloud a message in tribute to Mr Bidve, from the victim’s family in India.

A lamppost, festooned with fresh floral tributes became the spot for an impromptu shrine, with an arc of light growing ever larger as members of the public waited in turn to place candles around a framed photo of Mr Bidve.

Continued on page 3

Robert Vaughn set to join the cast of Corrie Page 16

Follow The Universe Catholic Weekly on Twitter at twitter.com/CATHOLIC_MD

Special Archives Edition featuring Rome and the Vatican

Following on from the huge success of our previous volumes and due to reader demand here is an unashamedly nostalgic look at Rome and the Vatican through the eyes of The Universe’s unique photographic archives.

These fascinating photographs reflect a world now largely and sadly disappeared, not just a Catholic world but of Society itself.

Here is nostalgia, fascination and awe as we invite you to glimpse a lost world through the pages of this special edition. TO ORDER YOUR COPY SEE PAGE 40.