International Catholic Esperanto Association
The International Catholic Esperanto Association (in Esperanto: Internacia Katolika Unuiĝo Esperantista , IKUE) is the worldwide association of Catholic Esperanto speakers founded in 1910 ; the seat was initially in Paris, today it is in Rome.
activities
The association wants to use Esperanto to spread the word of God and at the same time to practice understanding across borders within the church.
The main activities of the association are:
- Offer of holy masses and ecumenical services in the context of Esperanto events
- Organization of an annual Catholic or Ecumenical Esperanto Congress
- Organization of Catholic and Ecumenical Esperanto youth camps as well as Esperanto Bible weekends
- Publication of the Espero Katolika magazine , which - apart from the times of the First and Second World Wars - has been published continuously since 1903
- Publication and dissemination of literature (e.g., together with the International Christian Esperanto Federation , the 1472-page ecumenical prayer and hymn book "ADORU" 2001 or the Esperanto translation of the encyclical Deus caritas est 2006)
- Participation in the Esperanto-language radio broadcasts on Vatican Radio
- Maintaining contacts with officials in the Catholic Church ( lobbying )
history
The establishment was initiated by the French pastor Émile Peltier (1870-1909), who in 1902, with the permission of the Bishop of Tours, founded an association called Espero Katolika . However, he did not succeed in registering the association under French law. The following year, Peltier founded the magazine of the same name . The IKUE was not officially founded until 1910, one year after Peltier's death, as part of the first Catholic Esperanto Congress in Paris .
The congress has taken place almost every year since then. After the Second Vatican Council emphasized the ecumenical obligation of the Catholic Church, the congress was organized for the first time in 1968 as an Ecumenical Esperanto Congress together with the Protestant sister association of the IKUE, the International Christian Esperanto Federation KELI.
An important event for the association was the publication of the Bible in Esperanto ( Old and New Testament ) in 1926. However, the translation of the deutero-canonical scriptures was not added to the Esperanto Bible until 1997.
Since 1995 the patron of the association has been the Archbishop of Prague , Cardinal Miloslav Vlk , who himself learned Esperanto as a youth.
Pope John Paul II began in 1994 to always speak his Easter Christmas greetings in Esperanto. Pope Benedict XVI continued this tradition of its predecessor at Easter 2006.
Vatican Radio has been broadcasting regularly in Esperanto since 1977 ; today three different programs are broadcast in Esperanto four times a week.
On November 8, 1990, the Vatican approved the texts for the celebration of Holy Mass in Esperanto. The Roman missal (missal and lectionary for Sundays and public holidays) with Vatican imprimatur finally appeared in 1995.
On February 11, 1992, it was officially recognized as an association of believers under papal law, which was included in the list of lay spiritual communities by decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity .
