JAFFA, Israel – A UAE prince who expressed his support for a meeting between Pope Francis and the head of the world’s leading Sunni Muslim institution came under a barrage of online criticism as well as sympathy.
In an analysis of Monday’s meeting between Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Vatican expert John L. Allen said that there is no Christian leader in the world today with a more credible claim to the title of a “friend of Islam.”
While recognizing the legitimacy of people’s fears of terrorism and mass immigration, Pope Francis is urging world leaders not to allow such concerns to diminish solidarity with “our brothers and sisters in grave need.” On Thursday the Pope received a
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will meet with the grand imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar, the most prestigious institution in Sunni Islam, in an unprecedented encounter next Monday.
In a scathing address at a prayer breakfast in Washington D.C. this week, a high-ranking Vatican cardinal has denounced an “insidious war” against Christians taking place in the United States under the guise of tolerance.
In a Washington prayer breakfast Tuesday, a high-ranking Vatican cardinal denounced same-sex marriage, transgender bathroom laws, and attacks on the family as “demonic.”
In his weekly General Audience Wednesday, Pope Francis had hard words for those who go through life “pretending not to see” the poor, declaring that those who disregard the poor show disdain for God at the same time.
After Monday’s big victory for the Little Sisters of the Poor against Obamacare, Pope Francis has made a robust case for religious freedom, arguing that it is absolutely essential for a modern secular state.
Choosing his words carefully, Pope Francis recognized that the idea of conquest is integral to Islam as a religion, though he was quick to add that some might interpret Christianity in the same way.
In his jubilee audience over the weekend, Pope Francis said that Christians should be careful not to confuse feeling sorry for animals with love for one’s neighbor.
Pope Francis says he will set up a commission to study the possibility of allowing women to become deacons, the clerical order one step below a priest.
The immense popularity enjoyed by Pope Francis ever since his election in 2013 has precipitated sharply during the past year, and he no longer ranks among the top ten most admired men in the world, according to a massive new study involving 31,000 interviews.
Pope Francis’ understanding of Europe’s migrant crisis reflects his Latin American origins, and differs substantially from a European view of the issue, according to the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Dominik Duka.
Defensive end Michael Sam is attributing his inability to get signed to an NFL squad to his publicly coming out as gay in 2013, while others insist he just doesn’t have what it takes for the big leagues and that Sam was never more than a “stunt” for the NFL.
In his acceptance speech for the International Charlemagne Prize Friday, Pope Francis decried Europe’s trend toward disintegration and the renewed nationalism of member states, as well as its mishandling of immigration.
The Vatican’s Secretary of State said this week that there is no reason why a woman could not occupy his post in the future—the equivalent of Prime Minister—since “the office is not bound to the sacraments and to the priesthood.”
An inert Christian who doesn’t move forward along the path marked out by Jesus is a “spiritual mummy,” Pope Francis said Tuesday, adding that this sort of Christian doesn’t bear any fruit because he is standing still.
After his weekly prayer in Saint Peter’s Square Sunday, Pope Francis dished out harsh words for those guilty of child abuse, after gruesome details emerged regarding the 2014 death of a six-year-old girl allegedly thrown from an eighth-storey balcony by her rapist.
In a surprise visit Sunday to Rome’s Villa Borghese park for a celebration of Italy’s Earth Day, Pope Francis delivered an impromptu message, telling his audience to go through the world turning deserts into forests.
The official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano ran an editorial Friday praising the work of celebrated musician-composer Prince Rogers Nelson, who died on Thursday.
The Pope’s harsh words for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump last February seem not to have hurt the candidate’s popularity among Catholics, which actually increased by more than 20% since the pontiff’s unfortunate remarks.
In a move reminiscent of the first plague of Egypt, the city of Rome will dye its most emblematic fountain blood red in commemoration of the many new martyrs killed in our time for their faith in Jesus Christ.
On behalf of modern society, Pope Francis begged the forgiveness of migrants and refugees Tuesday, asking them to forgive our “closed-mindedness and indifference” and insisting that each migrant has “the face of God.”
In his one-day visit to meet migrants and refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Saturday, Pope Francis expressed his conviction that “we are all migrants” as he greeted the many asylum-seekers awaiting word regarding the processing of their cases.
Pope Francis visited the Greek island of Lesbos and took twelve Muslim refugees back to Rome with him on his papal airplane. The Vatican issued a statement that the refugees included six children. The twelve included three families who have had their homes bombed during the Syrian war.
In a press conference Thursday Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied a political agenda behind Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, insisting that the visit is “purely humanitarian and ecumenical.” Father Lombardi outlined the program for
The Pope told visiting pilgrims Wednesday that his upcoming visit to the Greek Island of Lesbos is meant as a gesture of “closeness and solidarity” to refugees and to all the Greek people who have been “so generous in welcoming
From the earliest centuries to our own time, martyrdom is always present in the Christian Church, Pope Francis said Tuesday, in recalling the scores of Pakistani Christians slaughtered in the Easter Day massacre just two weeks ago and the many who suffer for religious liberty under unjust laws.
Using some of his most powerful language to date, Pope Francis has joined the American College of Pediatricians in denouncing the transgender ideology behind contemporary ideas of fluid sexual identity among children. In his new letter on marriage and the
In the midst of the firestorm caused by news that Bernie Sanders would be addressing a high-level Vatican conference later this week, rumors are now circulating in Rome that Sanders may not be attending the event, most likely because he
Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking his socialist message to the Vatican, according to The Washington Post’s John Wagner.
A progressive Argentinian Bishop known for his open support of the Democratic Party has invited Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders to address a high-level Vatican meeting, contravening Church policy. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social
Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, revealed he had been invited to speak at the Vatican about economics. Sanders, a self-described socialist, told “Morning Joe” he was a fan of
Pope Francis released his long-awaited letter on marriage and families Friday, and despite predictions of radical changes in Church teaching, Francis hewed to the line of his predecessors regarding traditional Catholic doctrine on marriage and family life. In March, progressive
The Catholic Church in Rome is offering a week-long course on casting out Satan, preparing priests and some lay people on the finer points of exorcism and demonic possession. This extremely successful course, titled “Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation,” is
The iconic black Fiat 500 used by Pope Francis during much of his week-long United States visit last September has pulled in $300,000 at auction, selling for more than 12 times the car’s base price of $24,695. The Fiat was
As Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to tighten the Communist Party’s grip on religious practice, more and more Christians are opting out of the official, state-recognized church and heading underground. Some six million Catholics have refused to join churches recognized
In his Easter message to the world on Sunday, Pope Francis condemned terrorism as “a blind and brutal violence,” while proposing that it should be fought with “weapons of love.” The Pope was delivering his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the
In his Good Friday ceremony of the Stations of the Cross, Pope Francis pulled no punches in denouncing the global persecution of Christians, who are still “killed, burned alive, throats slit, and beheaded with barbarous blades amid cowardly silence.”
In a special rite commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 11 Muslim, Christian and Hindu asylum-seekers Thursday and declared them all children of the same Father.
