In the wake of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) latest slaughter of Christians in Libya, Pope Francis spoke out Tuesday to express his “great distress and sadness” at the news of the “shocking violence perpetrated against innocent Christians.”
Oliver Dashe Doeme, Bishop of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, minced no words this weekend in speaking of the atrocities of the jihadist group Boko Haram, which he called a “demonic cult.”
ROME, Italy– With his usual candor, Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s financial czar, spoke Thursday of the future of Christianity in the United States, Europe, and China–noting that Christianity is already spreading like wildfire in China just as it did “in the old pagan Roman Empire” two thousand years ago.
The tenth annual course on exorcism has gotten off to a bang in Rome, with a full house of 170 students eager to learn how to recognize and fight demonic possession.
Continuing with his insistence that Christians speak the truth boldly and “without fear” of the consequences, on Wednesday Pope Francis took on both the gay lobby and radical feminists by contending that men and women are essentially different and not interchangeable.
The day after publicly commemorating the Armenian genocide and risking a hostile response from Turkey, Pope Francis spoke of the need for courage to proclaim the truth boldly, no matter what the consequences.
Turkey’s reaction to Pope Francis’s comments Sunday on the Armenian genocide was swift and resolute, as the country recalled its Vatican ambassador back to Ankara and denounced the Pope for instigating “hatred and animosity” by spreading “unfounded allegations.”
Rampant speculation on whether Pope Francis would employ the “G-word” in describing the Turkish massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago has been definitively answered as the Pope called the slaughter “the first genocide of the twentieth century” Sunday
In an unusually public and confrontational manner, South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier shot off a series of Twitter messages this week criticizing his fellow cardinal, the German Walter Kasper, in response to a Huffington Post article that called Kasper “the Pope’s theologian.”
The lifeless body of 60-year-old Father Francisco Javier Gutiérrez Díaz was found Tuesday night with a gunshot wound to the head, dumped by the side of a road in a rural district of the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
In his ongoing campaign against Christian persecution, Pope Francis underscored the responsibility of the international community Monday in his address to the pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, urging governments not to stand idly by while anti-Christian violence continues.
Continuing his string of appeals calling attention to the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world, Pope Francis employed forceful language Monday in his midday address to the pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, decrying violence against Christians and exhorting the international community not to stand by without taking meaningful action.
Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, has begged for an end to the “horrible crime” of femicide in Honduras, a country that is suffering from a veritable epidemic of violent crimes against women in the last decade.
In a moving prayer in the Roman Colosseum Friday night, Pope Francis recalled the passion of Jesus Christ, comparing it to the suffering of persecuted Christians in the world today, after sending a telegram of condolence to the victims of the jihadist massacre of Christian students in Kenya.
The Vatican is offering a course on exorcism—or casting out demons—this April to teach priests and laypeople how to recognize and fight demonic possession.
On April 1, the Catholic bishops of Indiana posted a joint statement online in response to the heated debate generated by the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, affirming the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens and the need for its protection in law.
In a lengthy interview granted to the Italian Catholic online journal La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Cardinal Raymond Burke rejects attempts to paint him as opposed to Pope Francis, insisting rather that he is a faithful servant of the Church who has only sought to uphold the truth.
Italian and Vatican authorities have signed an agreement on taxation entailing “full cooperation” and “transparency,” including financial activities operated by entities that have accounts at the Vatican Bank.
As further attacks from the radical Islamist group Boko Haram have disrupted Nigeria’s presidential elections, officials now say that the results will not be released until Tuesday. Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the archbishop of Abuja and Nigeria’s only cardinal, has said that the situation in Nigeria is so serious that no matter who wins the election, a major “turn of page” is needed.
Pope Francis returned to the topic of Christian joy Thursday, calling the joy of the Gospel the ID card of a true Christian and “the touchstone of a person’s faith.”
Indian Catholics are calling for the closure of all Catholic schools on March 25 as a sign of protest against the recent surge in anti-Christian violence in the country.
On March 8, Pope Francis visited the parish of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore, in the poor Roman neighborhood known as Tor Bella Monaca. Now he has sent a thousand pounds of food as well as medicine to the poorest families of the area.
Amidst the enthusiasm for the upcoming Jubilee year of 2016 proclaimed by Pope Francis, Cardinal Camillo Ruini has added a sobering note of caution. “Terrorism is the greatest threat looming over the Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Francis. You cannot ignore it after what has happened in Tunisia,” he said in an interview this weekend with the Italian daily La Repubblica.
In his ongoing campaign to reach out to the lost and marginalized, Pope Francis spent all day Saturday exploring the Naples underbelly, seeking out the poorer areas of town, a prison, and sections dominated by the Neapolitan mafia, or “Camorra.”
In a historic statement, Pope Francis has closed the door to the death penalty, calling it “inadmissible.” In so doing, he has gone beyond any pope before him in condemning capital punishment.
