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DALLAS (AP) -- A police dashcam video released five months after a Texas officer shot a black man appears to show the man walking away as the officer fired, and the man's lawyer says he was not a threat....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Debbie Reynolds has been taken to the hospital after suffering a medical emergency in Los Angeles one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday....
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Donald Trump on Wednesday touted plans by a Japanese mogul to bring 8,000 jobs to the United States....
(Vatican Radio) Official figures show that a record 55,000 migrants, many of them fleeing poverty and wars, have left Germany voluntarily this year - more than twice the number deported. It comes mounting tensions in Europe over the influx of refugees. Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: Data over the period January through November from the Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees shows that tens of thousands of migrants have left the country voluntarily. Most of them went back to the Balkans. Albanians formed the largest group of some 15,000 people followed by about an equal number of people returning to nearby Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia.Germany saw large numbers of people from Balkan nations, who had slim chances of being granted asylum, arrive in early 2015.Yet there are also at least 5,000 migrants who have returned to Iraq and more than 3,000 to Afghanistan, despite reports of ongoing attacks by Islamic militants in those nations, including against...
(Vatican Radio) Official figures show that a record 55,000 migrants, many of them fleeing poverty and wars, have left Germany voluntarily this year - more than twice the number deported. It comes mounting tensions in Europe over the influx of refugees.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
Data over the period January through November from the Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees shows that tens of thousands of migrants have left the country voluntarily.
Most of them went back to the Balkans. Albanians formed the largest group of some 15,000 people followed by about an equal number of people returning to nearby Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia.
Germany saw large numbers of people from Balkan nations, who had slim chances of being granted asylum, arrive in early 2015.
Yet there are also at least 5,000 migrants who have returned to Iraq and more than 3,000 to Afghanistan, despite reports of ongoing attacks by Islamic militants in those nations, including against Christians and moderate Muslims.
GOVERNMENT FUNDING
German authorities revealed Wednesday that the government approved funding for some 55,000 migrants to return to their homelands this year, paving the way for a significant increase in voluntary departures.
That is more than twice the nearly 24,000 who were forcibly deported from Germany.
It comes amid mounting public resentment towards migrants fleeing war and poverty following several attacks linked to Islamic militants, including the recent Christmas Market attack in Berlin that killed 12 people and injured nearly 50 others.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has come under political pressure over her open-doors policy towards refugees as the country registered last year about 900,000 asylum seekers.
While she agree with stricter policies towards migrants, Merkel has made clear she wants Germany to remain a country that provides shelter to the most vulnerable people fleeing war-stricken nations such as Syria.
(Vatican Radio) Only time will tell, if a law passed by Cuba`s National Assembly, banning the naming of streets, stadiums and statues after Fidel Castro, will stick.James Blears reports that in his lifetime, Fidel was adamant - but legacies can sometimes take on a life of their own...Listen: Perhaps mindful of the proliferation of a similar cult to that of Che Guevarra and his iconic image by pop art, Fidel Castro always said a firm no to any memorial, name game or idolatry. Cuba`s National Assembly has just solidified, his wishes, with prohibiting legislation. 85 year old President Raul Castro, who's the last of the trio of Castro brothers says: "the best way to remember 'el Comandante' is to adhere to his concept of the Revolution."Rhe real test of the overall Castro legacy is if it`ll survive the passing of the third brother. If it does, then a law might one day be amended. if it doesn't, then hostile successors coul...
(Vatican Radio) Only time will tell, if a law passed by Cuba`s National Assembly, banning the naming of streets, stadiums and statues after Fidel Castro, will stick.
James Blears reports that in his lifetime, Fidel was adamant - but legacies can sometimes take on a life of their own...
Listen:
Perhaps mindful of the proliferation of a similar cult to that of Che Guevarra and his iconic image by pop art, Fidel Castro always said a firm no to any memorial, name game or idolatry.
Cuba`s National Assembly has just solidified, his wishes, with prohibiting legislation. 85 year old President Raul Castro, who's the last of the trio of Castro brothers says: "the best way to remember 'el Comandante' is to adhere to his concept of the Revolution."
Rhe real test of the overall Castro legacy is if it`ll survive the passing of the third brother.
If it does, then a law might one day be amended. if it doesn't, then hostile successors could tear down statues an erase street names in a jiffy.
Fidelìs nine-day funeral procession, culminating in his ashes being placed beside 19th century revolutionary José Marti, in Santiago cemetary is what he wanted... and it's what he got.
IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore RomanoBy Dennis SadowskiCLEVELAND (CNS) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Richard G. Lennon of Cleveland. He has headed the diocese since 2006.Bishop Lennon, who turns 70 in March, said during a news conference at diocesan offices Dec. 28 that he had developed vascular dementia, leading to his decision to submit his resignation for health reasons to the pope in November."Recently it has come to my awareness that my health has declined to such an extent that I should resign as diocesan bishop," he said."Given the progressive nature of this illness," he added. "Pope Francis has accepted my request for an early retirement."Normally, bishops do not turn in their resignation to the pope until they turn 75, as required by canon law. The pope named Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, as the apostolic administrator of the diocese until the installation of a new bishop.The changes were first announced in Washington early Dec. 28 by Ar...
IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano
By Dennis Sadowski
CLEVELAND (CNS) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Richard G. Lennon of Cleveland. He has headed the diocese since 2006.
Bishop Lennon, who turns 70 in March, said during a news conference at diocesan offices Dec. 28 that he had developed vascular dementia, leading to his decision to submit his resignation for health reasons to the pope in November.
"Recently it has come to my awareness that my health has declined to such an extent that I should resign as diocesan bishop," he said.
"Given the progressive nature of this illness," he added. "Pope Francis has accepted my request for an early retirement."
Normally, bishops do not turn in their resignation to the pope until they turn 75, as required by canon law.
The pope named Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, as the apostolic administrator of the diocese until the installation of a new bishop.
The changes were first announced in Washington early Dec. 28 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Thomas, 57, called Bishop Lennon's request for an early retirement "both a humble and courageous act, one that speaks volumes to his love for the local church and his desire that the people of God receive the pastoral care they need."
Having to take on the additional responsibilities of overseeing the Cleveland Diocese was unexpected, Bishop Thomas said. He compared his appointment as apostolic administrator to that of an interim coach.
"My job is to be the conduit from the past to the future," he said.
Bishop Thomas admitted during the news conference that he had "limited" knowledge of the diocese and that he would undertake a quick study of the Catholic Church that serves 692,000 Catholics in eight counties.
As apostolic administrator, Bishop Thomas said, he would regularly travel between Toledo and Cleveland, a distance of about 120 miles.
"My sister-in-law texted me this morning and said, 'Well, maybe they should clone you even though the church doesn't believe in that,'" Bishop Thomas said, smiling. "Someone else said, 'Well, maybe you should follow the example of Padre Pio.' But I'm not a saint, so I can't bi-locate yet.
"But I hope you know I will do everything in my power to work so well with the good folks here and in the Diocese of Toledo to be able to govern the people entrusted to me by Pope Francis until a successor is named," he said.
Bishop Thomas pointed particularly to the "rich ethnic culture and traditions" represented in northeast Ohio and said he was looking forward to meeting parishioners in the diocese's 185 parishes as well as the priests, deacons and religious communities that minister to them.
"There is much for me to learn, understand and embrace as I strive, with your help, to get down to the work of governance in shepherding the diocese," Bishop Thomas said.
Prior to his appointment to head the Toledo Diocese in 2015, Bishop Thomas was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia beginning in 2006. At the archdiocese, he oversaw the Media Affairs Department, the Office for Clergy, including the Department of Permanent Deacons, and the Vocation Office for the archdiocesan priesthood. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in 1985 by Cardinal John J. Krol, a native Clevelander.
Bishop Lennon was an auxiliary bishop of Boston before he was named Cleveland's 10th bishop by Pope Benedict XVI. During his decade in Cleveland, he led the revision of the statutes governing the diocese's finance, pastoral and presbyteral councils, established norms governing internal audits of parishes and schools, and carried out a plan to consolidate parishes. The diocese also completed a capital campaign in 2016 that raised more than $170 million for parish and diocesan needs.
A Boston area native, Bishop Lennon was ordained in 1973 and served in the Boston Archdiocese as a parish priest, fire department chaplain, assistant for canonical affairs and rector of St. John's Seminary.
He was ordained auxiliary bishop for Boston in 2001 and served as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese from December 2002 to July 2003 after Cardinal Bernard F. Law resigned as archbishop
in the midst of Boston's crisis over clergy sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Law's successor as archbishop, then-Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, was named that July.
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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A colonel who once headed the U.S. Army's strategic war gaming division sobbed and apologized Wednesday before being sentenced to 12 years for receipt and distribution of child pornography....
BERLIN (AP) -- German prosecutors said Wednesday that they have detained a Tunisian man they think may have been involved in last week's truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Fans seeking to pay tribute to Carrie Fisher have created an impromptu star for the actress on Hollywood's Walk of Fame....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry tore into Israel on Wednesday for settlement-building, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging Israel away from democracy and forcefully rejecting the notion that America had abandoned Israel with a controversial U.N. vote. Netanyahu accused the Obama administration of a biased bid to blame Israel for failure to reach a peace deal....
