LISBON JOURNALIST CLINCHES 2ND TEMPLETON PRIZE FOR RELIGION WRITING

GENEVA, May 22, 2006 (ENI) — António Marujo, religion writer with Público, a daily newspaper published in Lisbon, has been named as the winner of the 2005 John Templeton award for the “European Religion Writer of the Year”, the second time he has won it.

The announcement of the award, valued at 5000 Swiss Francs (US$4145), was made on 22 May in Geneva, by the Conference of European Churches. It administers the prize on behalf of the US-based “John Templeton Foundation” which seeks to link the secular and religious worlds.

The award aims to honour journalists who write about religion in the secular press with accuracy, impartiality and in an ecumenical spirit. The prize was inaugurated in 1994, and had been won by Marujo in 1995. This is the first time the award has gone to a previous recipient.

Born in 1961, António Marujo studied social communications at the University of Lisbon. Before working for Público he wrote for the weekly Expresso newspaper and the daily Diario de Lisboa. He recently published a book on the first year of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI (“Um Papa (In)esperado”).

Marujo's entry for the Templeton prize included a news story titled “Bono Vox, drinker of wine and reader of the Bible” (on an exhibition in Lisbon on the relevance of the Bible), a feature story on the Christian meaning of light , and an interview with José Tolentino Mendonça, a priest, poet and biblical scholar, titled “Jesus is a fascinating mystery, still unfinished”.

“This is authentic religion writing, rather than church-related writing,” said one of the judges, “and it is of the highest order. António Marujo is not fascinated by the Church but something much deeper, by the mystery of religion itself.” Another judge stated, “António Marujo makes his subjects come alive in a way that not every journalist can do.”

The director of Público, José Manuel Fernandes, said: “It's a reason for pride, for Público, that one of its journalists, António Marujo, has been recognised for the second time with the Templeton prize for religion writing. He noted, “We keep creating the conditions to provide our readers with high quality stories such as Mr Marujo's entry.”

Público was founded in 1990 and has a circulation of 72 000. It was the first Portuguese mainstream newspaper to have an online edition.

The prize will be presented on 6 July in Lisbon.

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The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a continental grouping of some 125 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic churches, plus 40 associated organisations.

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