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BERLIN (AP) -- The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Tuesday for a truck attack on a crowded Berlin Christmas market that German authorities said came right out of the extremist group's playbook, inflicting mass casualties on a soft target fraught with symbolic meaning....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):...
The Catholic Church in Ethiopia has joind other religious leaders and the government to promote peaceful coexistene in communities in conclict.The head of the Justice and Peace Department of the bishops' conference says in the past year the Church managed to bring together disputing ethnic groups in different parts of the country. Conflicts have arisen in some parts of the vast nation due disputes over grazing land and the stealing of herds.Below is a report by Makeda Yohanes from Addis AbabaThe Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat (ECS) through Justice and Peace Department in collaboration with local elders, different religious leaders and government officials is working tirelessly throughout the country to promote peace and tolerance among all peoples and nationalities in the country.Speaking to AMECEA Online News Correspondent recently in Addis Ababa, Mr. Guelay Gebreghiorgis, ECS Justice and Peace Department Head, said that in the past year the Church managed to bring together d...
The Catholic Church in Ethiopia has joind other religious leaders and the government to promote peaceful coexistene in communities in conclict.
The head of the Justice and Peace Department of the bishops' conference says in the past year the Church managed to bring together disputing ethnic groups in different parts of the country. Conflicts have arisen in some parts of the vast nation due disputes over grazing land and the stealing of herds.
Below is a report by Makeda Yohanes from Addis Ababa
The Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat (ECS) through Justice and Peace Department in collaboration with local elders, different religious leaders and government officials is working tirelessly throughout the country to promote peace and tolerance among all peoples and nationalities in the country.
Speaking to AMECEA Online News Correspondent recently in Addis Ababa, Mr. Guelay Gebreghiorgis, ECS Justice and Peace Department Head, said that in the past year the Church managed to bring together disputing ethnic groups in different parts of the country. This included the addressing of the issue of stigmatization to minority groups.
He said that in some part of the country mainly in pastoralist areas conflicts arise due to pasture lands and stealing of herds, revenge and grudges that further aggravate the situation. The Catholic Church, using the Catholic Social teaching and social conflict resolution methods have successfully managed to bring together the disputing communities to dialogue.
“Where we operate we work with the Gospel and Catholic Social Teachings to preach peace and love,” he said adding that “One of our major achievements this year is in Apostolic Vicariate of Soddo where we have managed to begin alleviating the discrimination against communities that were stigmatized. Now after continuous and extensive teachings people are beginning to accept the human dignity of fellow human beings, at least now people worship together and students share the same class, with time they will begin to sit together and socialize more.”
Mr. Guelay also said that similar work has been done in the eastern part of Ethiopia, Apostolic Vicariate of Harar where most of the community is Pastoralists. He said the Catholic Social Teaching is for everyone not just Catholics and the work of the Church is bearing fruits and acceptance among the different communities and authorities.
ECS Justice and Peace Department is also actively working with the Ethiopian Inter-Religious Council (IRCE) where 7 religious denominations gather to work for sustainable peace and tolerance in the country. It is to be recalled that IRCE published a peace building manual that can be used by the 7 members of IRCE and other secular institutions as it is fit to address all people without discrimination.
The department also gives workshops for government officials, police officers, prison administrators and others on human dignity and peaceful resolutions to challenges. Justice and Peace Department has been successfully engaged in various peace building efforts in the country throughout the years and constantly receives requests from different bodies for intervention and workshops.
Vatican City, Dec 20, 2016 / 12:25 pm (CNA/Vatican Insider).- Pope Francis has officially granted clemency to Spanish priest Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, who had already served half of his 18-month jail sentence for leaking confidential Vatican documents.The Vatican announced Dec. 20 that the Pope had given Msgr. Vallejo Balda the "benefit of conditional release" and that the priest will now fall under the jurisdiction of his home diocese of Astorga, Spain.In July of this year, after an eight-month trial weighing the guilt of five individuals in the leaking and disseminating of confidential financial documents, the Vatican reached a verdict, sentencing a Vatican official and a laywoman for the crime.The defendants in question were Msgr. Vallejo Balda, Italian PR woman Francesca Chaouqui, Nicola Maio (Vallejo’s secretary), and journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.On July 7, Msgr. Vallejo was found guilty of leaking the documents and sentenced to 18 ...
Vatican City, Dec 20, 2016 / 12:25 pm (CNA/Vatican Insider).- Pope Francis has officially granted clemency to Spanish priest Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, who had already served half of his 18-month jail sentence for leaking confidential Vatican documents.
The Vatican announced Dec. 20 that the Pope had given Msgr. Vallejo Balda the "benefit of conditional release" and that the priest will now fall under the jurisdiction of his home diocese of Astorga, Spain.
In July of this year, after an eight-month trial weighing the guilt of five individuals in the leaking and disseminating of confidential financial documents, the Vatican reached a verdict, sentencing a Vatican official and a laywoman for the crime.
The defendants in question were Msgr. Vallejo Balda, Italian PR woman Francesca Chaouqui, Nicola Maio (Vallejo’s secretary), and journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.
On July 7, Msgr. Vallejo was found guilty of leaking the documents and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
After his initial arrest Nov. 2, 2015, he was transferred to the Vatican’s Collegio dei Penitenzieri, a residence run by Conventional Franciscans, on house arrest. However, after violating the terms, he was moved back to the cells of the Vatican Gendarme, before eventually returning to the Collegio dei Penitenzieri.
Chaouqui was found guilty of conspiring in the crime, but was not charged with the actual leak of the documents given a lack of evidence.
Both Msgr. Vallejo and Chaouqui are former members of the Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA). The commission was established by the Pope July 18, 2013, as part of his plan to reform the Vatican’s finances, and was dissolved after completing its mandate.
They were arrested Nov. 2, 2015, in relation to the theft and dissemination of the documents. Chaouqui was released after spending one night in jail in exchange for her cooperation with investigations, while Msgr. Vallejo remained in custody.
After a Nov. 6 Mass celebrated for prisoners in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis in his Angelus address appealed for better prison conditions and asked that as part of the Jubilee of Mercy, competent global authorities would consider granting clemency to eligible inmates.
“I would like to make an appeal for better conditions in prison life, so that the human dignity of the detained is fully respected,” the Pope said Nov. 6.
He emphasized the importance of the need for a criminal justice “which isn’t just punitive, but open to hope and the re-insertion of the offender into society.”
In response to this appeal made by the Pope for governments to grant clemency to prisoners, Raoul Castro released 787 prisoners in Cuba last month.
IMAGE: CNS/Karen Callaway, Catholic New WorldBy WASHINGTON(CNS) -- In his message for Christmas, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo ofGalveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, encouragedCatholics to visit the manger this Christmas and reflect on how to give ofthemselves in the New Year."Mybrothers and sisters in Christ, like the Magi and the shepherds before us, weare making our Christmas journey to see the newborn Savior," he said Dec. 20. "Centuriesago, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh greeted the infant Jesus. People inneed of God's love rejoiced in the news of his birth and offered gifts ofgratitude."ThisChristmas, let us also visit the manger and give the gift of ourselves. This giftarises from our desire and search for peace at this time and place," CardinalDiNardo said.Avideo version of his message can be viewed on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/j839prc.Hereis the full text of Cardinal DiNardo's Christmas message:TheGift of OurselvesMybrothers and ...
IMAGE: CNS/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World
By
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In his message for Christmas, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, encouraged Catholics to visit the manger this Christmas and reflect on how to give of themselves in the New Year.
"My brothers and sisters in Christ, like the Magi and the shepherds before us, we are making our Christmas journey to see the newborn Savior," he said Dec. 20. "Centuries ago, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh greeted the infant Jesus. People in need of God's love rejoiced in the news of his birth and offered gifts of gratitude.
"This Christmas, let us also visit the manger and give the gift of ourselves. This gift arises from our desire and search for peace at this time and place," Cardinal DiNardo said.
A video version of his message can be viewed on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/j839prc.
Here is the full text of Cardinal DiNardo's Christmas message:
The Gift of Ourselves
My brothers and sisters in Christ, like the Magi and the shepherds before us, we are making our Christmas journey to see the newborn Savior. Centuries ago, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh greeted the infant Jesus. People in need of God's love rejoiced in the news of his birth and offered gifts of gratitude. This Christmas, let us also visit the manger and give the gift of ourselves. This gift arises from our desire and search for peace at this time and place.
We discover the fragile innocence of hope in the eyes of a newborn baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Mary and Joseph welcomed this young hope, for Jesus made known, in his very Person, the promise of "great joy that will be for all people." We can nurture that same hope today. We do this by greeting one another in love and charity, embracing civility and not letting our differences hide the dignity and beauty God has given each of us as his children.
Allow me to say a special word to our sisters and brothers who find themselves immigrants and refugees on Christmas Day. In you, we see the very struggles of the Holy Family. From the angel of the Lord, Joseph heard the call to "rise and flee" in order to keep Mary and Jesus safe from violence at home. The Catholic Church in the United States is praying for you and is working to welcome you as we would the Holy Family.
We remain a people in need of God's love this Christmas, especially the unborn or unemployed, the suffering and sick, the lonely and the grieving. Let us pray the Holy Spirit will come upon us as he overshadowed the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation so that filled with the love of her Son, we will "proclaim the greatness of the Lord." Merry Christmas!
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