Catholic News 2
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- In a departure from the leniency South Korean big businesses typically receive, prosecutors on Monday requested the arrest of the de facto head of Samsung Electronics, the country's most valuable company, in an influence-peddling scandal that has toppled the country's president....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Oman said Monday it accepted 10 inmates from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay ahead of President Barack Obama leaving office, part of his efforts to shrink the facility he promised to close....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to clog the nation's capital for Donald Trump's inauguration and a major demonstration the day after, but how many will actually arrive to party or protest is an open question....
Vatican City, Jan 14, 2017 / 01:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis baptized 13 babies from areas where devastating earthquakes struck Italy last year. The baptism took place in the chapel of the Santa Marta house, where the Pope resides. Italy was struck with a series of fatal and destructive earthquakes last summer and fall. The first struck the town and nearby areas of Amatrice, Italy in August. It measured in at a magnitude of 6.2 and killed as many as 290 people throughout the region, and left several hundred others injured.The next earthquakes hit in October, in a region just 50 miles north of where the first quake had occurred. A magnitude 5.5 quake, and another, measuring at a magnitude of 6.1, struck the region of Visso, Italy within just hours of each other on October 26. One man died of a heart attack as a result of the earthquakes. Just days later, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake leveled the 13th century Basilica of St. Benedic...
Vatican City, Jan 14, 2017 / 01:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis baptized 13 babies from areas where devastating earthquakes struck Italy last year.
The baptism took place in the chapel of the Santa Marta house, where the Pope resides.
Italy was struck with a series of fatal and destructive earthquakes last summer and fall.
The first struck the town and nearby areas of Amatrice, Italy in August. It measured in at a magnitude of 6.2 and killed as many as 290 people throughout the region, and left several hundred others injured.
The next earthquakes hit in October, in a region just 50 miles north of where the first quake had occurred. A magnitude 5.5 quake, and another, measuring at a magnitude of 6.1, struck the region of Visso, Italy within just hours of each other on October 26. One man died of a heart attack as a result of the earthquakes.
Just days later, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake leveled the 13th century Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia, Italy. Two women died of sudden heart attacks during this earthquake.
Earlier this month, Pope Francis held an audience with survivors from the earthquake zones.
“The pain is great...the wounds of the heart are there,” the Pope told the thousands of people gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall for the Jan. 5 audience.
The Pope told the victims that they needed true hope in Christ, not mere shallow optimism, to begin the rebuilding process.
“Yes for hope, but no for optimism...Today hope is needed to rebuild, which is done with your hands.”
He also told the people not to lose the ability to dream in the process of rebuilding, urging them to have “the courage to dream one more time” as they move forward.
BEIJING (AP) -- President-elect Donald Trump "speaks like a rookie," China's state-run media said Monday, describing his suggested use of America's position on Taiwan as a bargaining chip as "despicable."...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The increase of Israeli settlements has "gotten so substantial" that it is inhibiting the possibility for an "effective, contiguous Palestinian state," President Barack Obama said Sunday, in his final interview as president....
Rome, Italy, Jan 15, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As colder weather settled over Rome last week, two area charities have found ways to reach out to those without food or shelter during the cold winter nights: one by turning a church into a temporary shelter, another by partnering with a newly-opened McDonald’s near the Vatican.Medicina Solidale has plans to hand out around 50 meals to area homeless on Mondays starting Jan. 13 and continuing through June. The first 1,000 meals were donated by the lately controversial, Vatican-area McDonald’s, which has been the subject of mixed reviews. An association of doctors who volunteer with homeless throughout Rome, Medicina Solidale said they asked if “beyond the controversy,” McDonald’s would donate “some food to give to the homeless of St. Peter’s.”“And the McDonald’s told us yes immediately,” Gianluca Scarnicci, a press officer of the organization, told CNA.Since ...
Rome, Italy, Jan 15, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As colder weather settled over Rome last week, two area charities have found ways to reach out to those without food or shelter during the cold winter nights: one by turning a church into a temporary shelter, another by partnering with a newly-opened McDonald’s near the Vatican.
Medicina Solidale has plans to hand out around 50 meals to area homeless on Mondays starting Jan. 13 and continuing through June. The first 1,000 meals were donated by the lately controversial, Vatican-area McDonald’s, which has been the subject of mixed reviews.
An association of doctors who volunteer with homeless throughout Rome, Medicina Solidale said they asked if “beyond the controversy,” McDonald’s would donate “some food to give to the homeless of St. Peter’s.”
“And the McDonald’s told us yes immediately,” Gianluca Scarnicci, a press officer of the organization, told CNA.
Since Jan. 7, when temperatures dropped drastically in Rome, the Community of Sant’Egidio has opened up San Callisto Church, in the Trastevere neighborhood, as an overnight shelter for those who would otherwise be on the streets, also offering a hot meal at a nearby cafeteria.
Dinner is available to guests from 7pm onwards, and from 8pm to 10pm they can enter the church, staying until around 8am the next morning. The church and adjoining rooms, equipped with heat, toilets, pillows, blankets, and beds, currently house around 30 people each night.
The church is located in an area of Trastevere belonging to the Vatican. Volunteers welcome guests during opening hours and are also available throughout the night. They also try to help find solutions to the material needs and health of guests and to locate for them, if possible, another, longer-term solution for shelter.
These initiatives reflect the request Pope Francis made Jan. 8 when he announced that his urgent prayer intention for January is for all those who live on the streets with no shelter.
The Pope asked for an increase in aid to the homeless, especially during the cold winter weather, saying that “unfortunately some didn’t make it. Let us pray for them, and let us ask the Lord to warm our hearts so as to be able to help them.”
“During these very cold days, I think of and I invite you to think of all the people who live on the streets, affected by the cold and many times by indifference,” he said.
The Pope made his appeal looking out over a frozen St. Peter’s Square and the thousands of pilgrims bundled up below the window to the Apostolic Palace, though as of Friday, the cold has lessened slightly, bringing rainy weather with it.
His attention to the homeless isn’t surprising, as it has been a consistent concern for Francis since the beginning of his pontificate.
Not only did he have showers and a barber service installed in the bathrooms in St. Peter's Square to help the homeless stay clean and tidy, he has invited them to several events in the Vatican, including concerts and tours of the museums, and they have consistently been his special guests for breakfast on his birthday.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Slants aren't exactly a household name when it comes to music, but the Asian-American rock band has certainly made its mark in the legal world....
WARREN, Mich. (AP) -- Thousands of people showed up in freezing temperatures on Sunday in Michigan to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders denounce Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, one of dozens of rallies Democrats staged across the country to highlight opposition....
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Sleet and drizzle glazed swaths of the central U.S. on Sunday, extending icy weather that some meteorologists acknowledged fell short of dire forecasts....
