Catholic News 2
ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The remains of the 47 passengers and crew who were killed when a Pakistan International Airlines commuter crashed in the north of the country are being sent to Islamabad for identification, a hospital spokesman and the airline said Thursday....
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A deputy police chief says a female officer has been stabbed inside a Walmart store in Columbia, South Carolina, while responding to a shoplifting call....
MEUREUDU, Indonesia (AP) -- The Latest on a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in Indonesia's Aceh province (all times local):...
MEUREUDU, Indonesia (AP) -- Rescue workers, soldiers and police combed through the rubble of a devastated town in Indonesia's Aceh province Thursday, resuming a search for earthquake survivors that was halted at night by rain and blackouts....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Leonardo DiCaprio and the head of his foundation met Wednesday with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss how jobs centered on preserving the environment can boost the economy....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Military leaders are trying to fix the lengthy, inconsistent process for investigating senior officers accused of misconduct, The Associated Press has learned. They are seeking to change a hodgepodge system in which investigations can drag on for years while taxpayers pay six-figure salaries to officers relegated to mid-level administrative posts....
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse started on the ground floor and quickly raged, with smoke billowing into the second level and trapping victims whose only escape route was through the flames, federal investigators said Wednesday....
DETROIT (AP) -- A federal judge who ordered Michigan to begin its recount effectively ended it on Wednesday, tying his decision to a state court ruling that found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request another look at ballots....
Vatican City, Dec 7, 2016 / 02:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new association for women working in the Vatican announced Wednesday provides a personal and professional network for women to offer support to each other and to the community.Called simply “Donne in Vaticano,” or “Women in the Vatican,” a Dec. 7 communique said the association “intends to create a network of friendship, exchange and solidarity among all for personal and professional growth.”President of the association and Vatican journalist Tracey McClure said members of the association believe women “are a valuable resource” and should be “valued in the workplace and in all areas of life and activity within the Vatican.”“Putting (Women in the Vatican) together over the past 4 years or so has introduced me to some highly intelligent, competent and creative women.”You can’t help but admire their “love for their jobs, their dedication to the Po...
Vatican City, Dec 7, 2016 / 02:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new association for women working in the Vatican announced Wednesday provides a personal and professional network for women to offer support to each other and to the community.
Called simply “Donne in Vaticano,” or “Women in the Vatican,” a Dec. 7 communique said the association “intends to create a network of friendship, exchange and solidarity among all for personal and professional growth.”
President of the association and Vatican journalist Tracey McClure said members of the association believe women “are a valuable resource” and should be “valued in the workplace and in all areas of life and activity within the Vatican.”
“Putting (Women in the Vatican) together over the past 4 years or so has introduced me to some highly intelligent, competent and creative women.”
You can’t help but admire their “love for their jobs, their dedication to the Pope and their determination to help others – all the while balancing family and social commitments,” she said.
Citing research by Gudrun Sailer, a fellow employee of Vatican Radio and author of three books on women in the Vatican, McClure said there are about 750 women who currently work at the Vatican, or 19 percent of the total Vatican workforce. It’s “an upward trend,” she said.
According to Sailer, most of the women working in the Vatican are academics and the percentage of women currently working in the curia is particularly high, historically considered.
The association is open to all women who do or have worked for the Vatican City State, the Holy See, and related institutions – whether secular or religious.
The idea for the association developed among a group of colleagues, and since its Nov. 23 launch has expanded from the 12 founding members to include more than 53 women from 16 different Vatican offices. The constitution was signed Sept. 1.
Besides helping to connect women working in different areas of the Vatican, the association also hopes to initiate volunteer opportunities in order “to give back to their communities,” McClure said, in the spirit of what Pope Francis calls a “revolution of tenderness.”
They would also like to specifically help provide assistance to women in need and “to give more visibility to the initiatives and contributions of other Christian women.”
“In our intent we feel encouraged by the papal Magisterium. The last Popes have expressed on many occasions appreciation and esteem in the regard of women,” the communique stated. Quoting Pope Francis: “the Church cannot be herself without the woman and her role.”
Vatican City, Dec 7, 2016 / 02:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Beauty, under the care of artists, has the ability to transform even the everyday lives of men and women, Pope Francis said in a message for the annual meeting of the Pontifical Academies on Tuesday.Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered the Pope's message during the 21st public session Dec. 6, before presenting the winning artists of this year's Pontifical Academies Award, who are chosen by the Pope.“Architects and painters, sculptors and musicians, filmmakers and writers, photographers and poets, artists of every discipline, are called to shine beauty especially where darkness or gray dominates everyday life,” the Pope wrote.They “are the custodians of beauty, heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity.”“I invite you, therefore,” he emphasized, “to cherish beauty, and beauty will heal the many wounds that mark the hearts and souls of the men and women of o...
Vatican City, Dec 7, 2016 / 02:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Beauty, under the care of artists, has the ability to transform even the everyday lives of men and women, Pope Francis said in a message for the annual meeting of the Pontifical Academies on Tuesday.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered the Pope's message during the 21st public session Dec. 6, before presenting the winning artists of this year's Pontifical Academies Award, who are chosen by the Pope.
“Architects and painters, sculptors and musicians, filmmakers and writers, photographers and poets, artists of every discipline, are called to shine beauty especially where darkness or gray dominates everyday life,” the Pope wrote.
They “are the custodians of beauty, heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity.”
“I invite you, therefore,” he emphasized, “to cherish beauty, and beauty will heal the many wounds that mark the hearts and souls of the men and women of our day.”
Quoting Italian writer Italo Calvino, who said that “cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears,” the Pope pointed out the bleakness that often exists in both cities and suburbs, saying the lack of beauty leaves more room “for fear” than for the “beautiful dreams” of young people.
The role of beauty, therefore, he said, is to help draw us out of this “utilitarian pragmatism” we so often fall into. He quoted Laudato Si, saying, when we “do not learn to stop and admire and appreciate the beautiful, it is not strange” that we begin to turn everything into an object for use.
This is why beautiful buildings, especially beautiful churches, are so needed, he noted.
Especially when beautiful churches are located in underprivileged, or perhaps degraded, areas they offer, “even in their simplicity and essentiality, an oasis of beauty, peace, acceptance.”
By favoring “an encounter with God and communion with our brothers and sisters” they become a “reference point for the integral growth of all people, for harmonious development and supportive communities,” he said.
But it isn’t just grand works of architecture or other art which can bring beauty into the world, Francis stressed. Even “simple actions, small sparks of beauty and love” shown to the environment in which people live can bring healing and provide an alternative to indifference and cynicism.
This year’s winners of the Pontifical Academy Award were the young woman Chiara Bertoglio, for her research in musicology and literature, and for her many concert performances; and the young man Claudio Cianfaglioni, for his research on poetry, and for his study of significant contemporary literary figures, such as Fr. David Maria Turoldo, an Italian poet.
The award’s prize of 20,000 euros is divided between the winners, who are chosen based on their work’s exceptional contribution “to the development of Christian humanism and its artistic expressions.”
Reflecting on the theme of the session, which was about bringing a human aspect to cities through beauty, reminded Pope Francis of some of the words of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, he said.
“The present moment” he quoted Benedict XVI, “is sadly marked, not only by negative elements in the social and economic level, but also by a weakening of hope, by a lack of confidence in human relationships, so they grow signs of resignation, aggression and despair.”
Continuing to quote the recent pope’s Nov. 2009 speech to artists, he asked, “What is capable of restoring enthusiasm and confidence, what can encourage the human spirit to rediscover its path, to raise its eyes on the horizon, to dream of a life worthy of its vocation if not beauty?”
The “experience of beauty” is an important and even primary factor “in our search for meaning and happiness” and the experience liberates and transfigures our lives.
From this emerges the “important and necessary task of artists,” Francis explained, “particularly those who are believers and allow themselves be enlightened by the beauty of the gospel of Christ.”
“To create works of art that bring us, in the language of beauty, a sign, a spark of hope and trust where people seem to give in to indifference and ugliness.”
