Today in Rome, the Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, Shlemon Warduni, suggested that air strikes are useful as a deterrent measure against the militia of the Islamic State, according to the Italian ANSA news service. Air raids are a “means,”
This morning, Pope Francis received in audience the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, who took the occasion to invite Francis to come to Philadelphia next September. The reason for the visit would be the 8th World Meeting of Families
The key motives of Pope Francis’ visit to Albania next Sunday are to honor the martyrs who died under Albanian Communism, to promote dialogue between Christians and Muslims, and to pay homage to Blessed Mother Teresa, a native of Albania.
On September 12, the Vatican announced that the Pope would be visiting Turkey in late November. “This morning, the Holy See received the official letter inviting Pope Francis to visit Turkey from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s President,” said Father Francisco
A host of media outlets have shown surprise that Pope Francis would officiate the wedding ceremony of couples with a sinful past. On August 29, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis would be celebrating the wedding ceremony of 20 couples
After his usual Sunday Angelus message, the Pope added a brief reflection on his visit to the World War I shrine of Redipuglia and the Austro-Hungarian Cemetery. The Pope said, “I prayed for all those who died in the Great
Pope Francis received a group of bishops from the DemocraticRepublic of Congo and exhortedthem to be especially attentive to the needs of young people in their dioceses,especially those in danger of violence. “With particular horror I think of the children
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will go toStrasbourg to address the EuropeanParliament on November 25. Francis will be the second pope to visit Strasbourg afterJohn Paul II, who addressedthe Parliament on October 11, 1988. At that time, just
“We must break the silence” on the shameful scourge of contemporary slavery, said archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi yesterday in Geneva at the 27th session of the UN Human Rights Council. Tomasi is the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to
Questions surround a Washington, D.C. conference whose stated purpose was to gather lawmakers, Eastern and Western churches, community leaders and a variety of Christian groups to confront the problem of genocide being perpetrated against Christians by ISIS. According to Alana
The accused murderer of three Italian missionary sisters inBurundi has been apprehended and has confessed to the crime. “The murderer is in our hands and has confessed,” announcedthe police spokesman, Colonel Helmenegilde Harimenshi. Sister Bernadette Boggian, 79, Sister Olga Raschietti,
Pope Francis has once again weighed in on the issue of warand peace, this time in a messageto a meeting of religious men and women in Belgium. Citing the pope who reignedduring World War I, Pope Benedict XV, Francis said
As of December 31, 2014, the shops around Vatican City willno longer be selling the familiar parchmentblessings from Pope Francis. In a letter dated April12, 2014, Msgr. Konrad Krajewski, the Pope’s Almoner–or distributor of alms–announcedthe termination of a running agreement
Despite media buzz that has focused on “unconventionalcouples,” divorce,and annulments,the aim of next month’s meeting of bishops in Rome is to “propose to today’sworld the beauty and the values of the family,” according to CardinalLorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the
The triple murder of three elderly Italian religious sistersin Burundi has their religious family and the local community reeling. The ItalianForeign Ministryhas confirmed Monday’s death of a third missionary, Sister Bernadette Boggian,who was decapitated,according to a senior official of the
Hardly any Americans will know of Hilarion Alfeyev, 48, a Russian Orthodox bishop who acts as the “foreign minister” of his Church, but it is important that they do. He is a bridge between not just the Orthodox Church and
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Monday that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, had lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican or other courts.
Catholics are often told to be in the world but not of the world, meaning that while they carry on ordinary lives, they should never forget their faith and what it demands of them. In a similar way, Pope Francis seems
Sunday was a big day for the ISIS-supporting hacker group, “Lizard Squad.” Yesterday they claimed responsibility for a cyber attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network, and tweeted a bomb threat to American Airlines, saying that explosives were on board the flight carrying
ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Pope Francis has called the family of an American journalist whose videotaped beheading by Islamic State militants has touched off torrents of outrage around the world. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi confirms the pope called
For the first time, Pope Francis has talked about his own mortality, telling reporters he estimates “two or three years” left before his passing. A reporter embedded with the Pope asked him about his overall popularity on the flight back
Pope Francis hinted during an interview that he might visit Washington, D.C. next year during his trip to the United States. The pontiff acknowledged his previously reported plans to attend the international World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015
The exiled Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Iraq, is warning westerners about welcoming an increasing number of Muslims into their countries, naively believing that they too believe in democratic principles. “Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday endorsed the use of force to stop Islamic militants from attacking religious minorities in Iraq but said the international community — and not just one country — should decide how
Catholicism in Korea came without missionaries, priests or nuns. Instead, it grew from a Confucian scholar who read books about the Faith and was baptized Peter by a Jesuit missionary in China. He returned to Korea with the books and baptized many more,
