Catholic News 2
BALTIMORE (AP) -- The 4-month-old on the operating table has a shocking birth defect, nearly half his heart too small or even missing. To save him, surgeons will have to totally reroute how his blood flows, a drastic treatment that doesn't always work....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Russia, Iran, and Turkey are ready to act as guarantors to a future settlement between the Syrian government and the opposition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday, as hundreds more residents left the opposition's last foothold in eastern Aleppo....
ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia led the nation this year in the number of inmates put to death, an anomaly that's due at least in part to executions in Texas dipping into single digits for the first time in 20 years....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is rejecting bipartisan calls for a special committee to investigate Russian interference in the U.S. election, which American intelligence says was aimed in part at helping Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton....
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- The Turkish policeman who assassinated Russia's ambassador was unlikely to have acted alone, a senior Turkish government official said Tuesday, as investigators from both countries hunted for clues as to who might have been behind the killing....
BERLIN (AP) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel already knew that her campaign for a fourth term as Germany's leader will be her most difficult yet. The deadly truck attack on a Christmas market may have made it tougher - and is already polarizing opinion....
BERLIN (AP) -- German authorities are calling the truck attack on a crowded Christmas market an "act of terrorism" that had all the hallmarks of Islamic extremism - but many questions remained over who carried out the attack that killed 12 people and wounded nearly 50 in the heart of Berlin....
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, visited the Catholic communities of both the Greek and the Latin rites in Donetsk and Luhansk from December 16 to 18 2016. It is customary for the Nuncio to visit different communities on the eve of major religious holidays to convey the greetings and blessing of Pope Francis.In spring 2016, the Apostolic Nuncio visited the community of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk for the feast of Easter.During his Christmas visit, Archbishop Gugerotti spoke about the tireless work of Pope Francis for peace in the region and his desire to be able to be with all the aggrieved peoples of the world in order to give them an embrace of solidarity.On the occasion of his visit to Luhansk, the Apostolic Nuncio visited Metropolitan Mytrofan of Luhansk and Alchevsk, Chair of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.Throughout the trip, Archbishop Gugerotti was accompanied by Bishop Jan Sobilo, au...
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, visited the Catholic communities of both the Greek and the Latin rites in Donetsk and Luhansk from December 16 to 18 2016. It is customary for the Nuncio to visit different communities on the eve of major religious holidays to convey the greetings and blessing of Pope Francis.
In spring 2016, the Apostolic Nuncio visited the community of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk for the feast of Easter.
During his Christmas visit, Archbishop Gugerotti spoke about the tireless work of Pope Francis for peace in the region and his desire to be able to be with all the aggrieved peoples of the world in order to give them an embrace of solidarity.
On the occasion of his visit to Luhansk, the Apostolic Nuncio visited Metropolitan Mytrofan of Luhansk and Alchevsk, Chair of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Throughout the trip, Archbishop Gugerotti was accompanied by Bishop Jan Sobilo, auxiliary bishop of the Latin Rite Diocese of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia.
(Vatican Radio) Myanmar’s Cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, has issued an appeal to all religions and all ethnic groups in the nation to make 2017 the Year of Peace.The Archbishop of Yangon’s plea comes as the UN and other human rights groups are accusing Myanmar’s military of committing grave atrocities against Burma's minority Rohingya Muslims.In Cardinal Bo’s appeal, which was sent to Fides News Agency, he says: "It is time to join - all religions, all ethnic groups - to truly make 2017 the Year of Peace. Peace is possible through justice. Peace is possible through negotiations. We urge all religions to observe the day of 1 January 2017 as a day of fasting and prayer for peace."Calling on all who flock to our monasteries, churches, temples and mosques to bring signs and flags with the phrase 'Stop all wars!', the Cardinal urges all Burmese people to spend New Year’s Day in prayer and fasting for peace, “to change the hea...
(Vatican Radio) Myanmar’s Cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, has issued an appeal to all religions and all ethnic groups in the nation to make 2017 the Year of Peace.
The Archbishop of Yangon’s plea comes as the UN and other human rights groups are accusing Myanmar’s military of committing grave atrocities against Burma's minority Rohingya Muslims.
In Cardinal Bo’s appeal, which was sent to Fides News Agency, he says: "It is time to join - all religions, all ethnic groups - to truly make 2017 the Year of Peace. Peace is possible through justice. Peace is possible through negotiations. We urge all religions to observe the day of 1 January 2017 as a day of fasting and prayer for peace."
Calling on all who flock to our monasteries, churches, temples and mosques to bring signs and flags with the phrase 'Stop all wars!', the Cardinal urges all Burmese people to spend New Year’s Day in prayer and fasting for peace, “to change the hearts of all people”.
In his heartfelt appeal Cardinal Bo writes: "Brothers and sisters from Myanmar, all of us will say 'Happy New Year'. Every year we greet one another with this message. But honestly there is no happiness in many parts of this country. War continues in many areas. And for more than 200,000 displaced people in refugee camps, it will not be a happy new year. The war, which began sixty years ago, still rages. Cambodia has solved its conflicts, Vietnam has solved its wars. These neighboring countries are on the path towards peace and prosperity. We, in Myanmar are still involved in a war which is impossible to win. The agony of the population and forced displacement are the only results of violence. The silent majority of the people of Myanmar have only been spectators of a chronic war in Myanmar. Now: let us unite, all together, for genuine peace".
After having documented a series of crimes against the Rohingya Muslim minority including the razing of entire villages and an exodus of people across the border into Bangladesh, Rights group Amnesty International says the actions of Myanmar's military may constitute "crimes against humanity."
Myanmar's military has denied accounts of atrocities and says it is conducting anti-terrorist raids in Rakhine State.
At a meeting of regional leaders in Yangon, the government said it needed "time and space" to resolve the issue.
Malaysia says this is now a "regional concern", and has called for the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) to co-ordinate humanitarian aid and investigate the allegations.
(Vatican Radio) Tens of thousands of people have fled eastern Aleppo city in the past weeks, seeking safety and protection.However, their new reality could be bleak if they aren’t properly equipped for winter, as temperatures are low and will dip to –5 degrees Celsius at night in the coming days.The Norwegian Refugee Council is one of the humanitarian agencies struggling to ensure life-saving assistance for those in desperate need as they flee fighting in Aleppo and across Syria.NRC Syria Response Country Director, Thomas White, told Linda Bordoni about the emergency assistance being provided and of his concern for the coming months.Listen: Tom White explains that there is a NRC team operating north of Aleppo and that they have started providing assistance to families who have left the city in recent days. He says the first thing the team is doing is to offer families some sort of shelter.He says they spoke to one man who is head of his household, and he is part of a g...
(Vatican Radio) Tens of thousands of people have fled eastern Aleppo city in the past weeks, seeking safety and protection.
However, their new reality could be bleak if they aren’t properly equipped for winter, as temperatures are low and will dip to –5 degrees Celsius at night in the coming days.
The Norwegian Refugee Council is one of the humanitarian agencies struggling to ensure life-saving assistance for those in desperate need as they flee fighting in Aleppo and across Syria.
NRC Syria Response Country Director, Thomas White, told Linda Bordoni about the emergency assistance being provided and of his concern for the coming months.
Listen:
Tom White explains that there is a NRC team operating north of Aleppo and that they have started providing assistance to families who have left the city in recent days. He says the first thing the team is doing is to offer families some sort of shelter.
He says they spoke to one man who is head of his household, and he is part of a group of 27 families who have moved from eastern Aleppo in recent days.
“They left the city with just a bag of clothes, they spent many nights in the open and, the conditions are very cold and they had to cross multiple frontlines to get to an area of relative safety” he said.
White also said the families that arrived were “very tired, very distressed and very cold and so the immediate concern of organizations such as the NRC is to provide some basic shelter, basic household items: that is the priority at this stage”.
“We are very concerned that there are a large number of people who have been displaced due to fighting in and around Aleppo and in other parts of Syria who are living without the basic protection of a roof over their heads” he said.
Meanwhile, White says certainly in the north of Aleppo, the NRC has provided assistance to about 1.500 people and it has the capacity to provide shelter, basic household items, water and waste removal to several thousand more.
But, he said, this is a situation which many people in Syria are facing and in fact those who have left or are leaving Aleppo join the list of the 6 million people who are internally displaced in Syria.
White says there is much concern for the children caught up in the tragedy.
“Particularly the children from eastern Aleppo have been living in very, very difficult conditions for many years, they have then just taken a very risky journey to get out of eastern Aleppo, and as you can imagine they have experienced conditions and seen things we wouldn’t wish that any child should see” he said.
So, organizations such as NRC are providing support to children. White says that in the north of the country NRC has plans to support some 5.000 children with some basic recreational activities but also with psycho-social counselling for children that have fled fighting.
Looking to the near future, White says there are a couple of key issues that must be ensured.
“The first one is that we need to be able to support these people not just today and tomorrow, but we need to be supporting them in the next few months, particularly during the cold of winter” he said.
Secondly, he continues : “it is very promising to see that the evacuations from Eastern Aleppo have started again and we continue to urge all parties to the conflict to allow the safe passage of civilians out of areas where there is fighting – whether it be Aleppo or other parts of the country”.
And really, White concludes, “for a humanitarian organization such as the NRC, along with our partners we are really seeking sustained humanitarian access to these people so we can look after their needs at least over the next few months of winter”.
