Catholic News 2
MIAMI (AP) -- Donald Trump repeatedly accused President Barack Obama of founding the Islamic State group on Thursday, refusing to take back a patently false allegation even when questioned about the logic of his position....
WARREN, Mich. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton sought to undercut Donald Trump's claim to working class voters Thursday, portraying her Republican rival as untrustworthy on economic issues, and pushing policies that would only benefit the super-wealthy - himself included....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis had lunch with a group of 21 Syrian refugees on Thursday at the Casa Santa Marta.During the luncheon, both adults and children had the possibility to speak with Pope Francis about the beginnings of their life in Italy.The children gave the Holy Father a collection of their drawings, and the Pope showered them with toys and other gifts.The refugees, who live in Rome and are hosted by the St. Egidio Community, were brought to Rome from Lesbos by Pope Francis at the conclusion of his visit to the Greek island on 16 April 2016.The first group arrived in Rome with the Holy Father aboard the papal plane, while the second group came to Rome in mid-June at his request.Present at the meal with Pope Francis and his Syrian guests were the Substitute Secretary of State Archbishop Angelo Becciu; Professor Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St. Egidio Community, and other members of the community; the Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie, Doctor Domenico Giani; a...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis had lunch with a group of 21 Syrian refugees on Thursday at the Casa Santa Marta.
During the luncheon, both adults and children had the possibility to speak with Pope Francis about the beginnings of their life in Italy.
The children gave the Holy Father a collection of their drawings, and the Pope showered them with toys and other gifts.
The refugees, who live in Rome and are hosted by the St. Egidio Community, were brought to Rome from Lesbos by Pope Francis at the conclusion of his visit to the Greek island on 16 April 2016.
The first group arrived in Rome with the Holy Father aboard the papal plane, while the second group came to Rome in mid-June at his request.
Present at the meal with Pope Francis and his Syrian guests were the Substitute Secretary of State Archbishop Angelo Becciu; Professor Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St. Egidio Community, and other members of the community; the Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie, Doctor Domenico Giani; and two Gendarmerie who helped transfer the refugees to Italy from Lesbos.
We have heard much about the violence against Christians in eastern India’s Odisha state, and the continuing denial of justice to them in the numerous cases pending before the law courts. Violence against Christians during Christmas 2007 was a mere prelude to the violence on a much larger scale in and after August 2008. With its epicenter on Kandhamal District, this time it erupted with untold savagery, with Hindu extremists blaming Christians for the August 23, 2008 murder of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, despite Maoist rebels claiming the assassination. Many have perished in the carnage.Among several persons fighting for the cause of the survivors of the violence in Kandhamal is Fr. Ajaya Kumar Singh, a social worker and human rights activist. The priest of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar Archdiocese who is director of the Odisha Forum for Social Action of Odisha Bishops' Regional Council, has been honoured by the Nation...
We have heard much about the violence against Christians in eastern India’s Odisha state, and the continuing denial of justice to them in the numerous cases pending before the law courts. Violence against Christians during Christmas 2007 was a mere prelude to the violence on a much larger scale in and after August 2008. With its epicenter on Kandhamal District, this time it erupted with untold savagery, with Hindu extremists blaming Christians for the August 23, 2008 murder of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, despite Maoist rebels claiming the assassination. Many have perished in the carnage.
Among several persons fighting for the cause of the survivors of the violence in Kandhamal is Fr. Ajaya Kumar Singh, a social worker and human rights activist. The priest of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar Archdiocese who is director of the Odisha Forum for Social Action of Odisha Bishops' Regional Council, has been honoured by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) for his efforts to secure the rights of Kandhamal’s persecuted Christians. Fr. Ajaya was recently in Rome and we came to know more about the cause of sainthood that the bishops of Odisha have initiated to recognize the martyrdom of Kandhamal’s Christians. Fr. Ajaya began by giving us a background to the persecution of Christians in his state.
Listen:
With the sainthood ceremony of Mother Teresa in Rome less than a month away, preparations are already well underway for the celebration of the event in eastern India’s Kolkata city, where the Albanian-born nun started her mission of mercy and died. Scholars, priests, students and artists in the bustling city, earlier called Calcutta, are continuously holding seminars, exhibitions and prayer meetings every day across the city to promote “Mother Teresa’s philosophy towards humanity” and a group of young independent photographers are taking part in the crowdsourced Sainthood Project. Photographs taken throughout the city will be displayed in several locations in Rome in early September, to coincide with the Sept. 4 canonization of Mother Teresa. The photographers are volunteers, trying to highlight aspects of the young Mother Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity to serve the “poorest of the poor” in India. The young people ar...
With the sainthood ceremony of Mother Teresa in Rome less than a month away, preparations are already well underway for the celebration of the event in eastern India’s Kolkata city, where the Albanian-born nun started her mission of mercy and died. Scholars, priests, students and artists in the bustling city, earlier called Calcutta, are continuously holding seminars, exhibitions and prayer meetings every day across the city to promote “Mother Teresa’s philosophy towards humanity” and a group of young independent photographers are taking part in the crowdsourced Sainthood Project. Photographs taken throughout the city will be displayed in several locations in Rome in early September, to coincide with the Sept. 4 canonization of Mother Teresa. The photographers are volunteers, trying to highlight aspects of the young Mother Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity to serve the “poorest of the poor” in India. The young people are funding their own travel to Rome to participate in the ceremony and exhibit the photographs in open-air galleries.
“This is our tribute to Mother,” said Srijita Deb Burman, 25, a business professional. “These images will depict the inspiration that must have attracted Mother to this city.” Meanwhile, artist artist Sunita Kumar, a Sikh who volunteers for the Missionaries of Charity, said she has “made several new paintings depicting (Mother Teresa’s) ideology that will be exhibited at the arts exhibition at St Xavier’s School in Calcutta until her canonization.”
The city’s Park Street, a popular meeting place for young people, already renamed Mother Teresa Sarani will hold special festivities until Christmas. At Mother Teresa’s home, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, the doors are open for all, and followers and admirers of every creed come every day, visiting and praying at her tomb. Some people drop in to be counseled by the sisters, asking for solace; others come looking for medicine or other daily items.
Mother Teresa’s home is already a place of worship, where novices and ordinary people can be seen carrying their books to the tomb seeking blessings. “It was her influence that I joined the order at 18,” said Sister Ruth from Andhra Pradesh state. Sisters Laisa and Ansavio stood near Mother Teresa’s statue, distributing small packets of medicine to a few local visitors who had come seeking help.
Mother Teresa’s relics have been placed near her tomb on the ground floor of the motherhouse, but very soon the place will be dedicated for the veneration of the saint. Representatives of the Missionaries of Charity say they have plans for regular special Masses and prayer meetings. A thanksgiving mass will be held on August 26, Mother Teresa’s birthday, ahead of the canonization. On September 4, nuns, novices and followers will participate in the canonization in St Peter’s Square, watching it via live broadcast. About 30 members of the Missionaries of Charity will travel to the Vatican for the canonization. German-born Sister Mary Prema, superior general, is already in Rome to facilitate the process and accommodate the guests.
In the run-up to the canonization, a three-day Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF) will kick off on Aug. 26 at Kolkata's Nandan multiplex to celebrate the life and mission of Blessed Mother Teresa. The film festival, organized by the Indian chapter of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication, will travel to numerous locations around India and then go overseas. Later in September, a series of festivities have been planned across the city, where many believe Mother Teresa’s work had already made her a saint. (Source: CNS…)
A parish in the South Korean capital Seoul has created a fund to help improve education initiatives by the Catholic Church in Mongolia. Daech2-dong Catholic Church of Seoul Archdiocese donated 50 million won (US$45,000) to Peace Makers, a social welfare arm of the Catholic Education Foundation, on Aug. 11 to support ongoing work in Mongolia. Peace Maker will send the funds to Korean Salesian nuns working in the Mongolian education ministry. The money will be used to repair and expand school buildings run by the Salesian nuns and to provide student scholarships. Currently, the nuns are running an elementary school with 40 students and a kindergarten that has 135 children attending.The Catholic Church in Mongolia does not have any diocese, but the entire country comes under the jurisdiction of the Prefecture Apostolic of Ulaanbataar, headed by Filipino Scheut Missionary Bishop Wenceslao Padilla. According to the Vatican’s F...
A parish in the South Korean capital Seoul has created a fund to help improve education initiatives by the Catholic Church in Mongolia. Daech2-dong Catholic Church of Seoul Archdiocese donated 50 million won (US$45,000) to Peace Makers, a social welfare arm of the Catholic Education Foundation, on Aug. 11 to support ongoing work in Mongolia. Peace Maker will send the funds to Korean Salesian nuns working in the Mongolian education ministry. The money will be used to repair and expand school buildings run by the Salesian nuns and to provide student scholarships. Currently, the nuns are running an elementary school with 40 students and a kindergarten that has 135 children attending.
The Catholic Church in Mongolia does not have any diocese, but the entire country comes under the jurisdiction of the Prefecture Apostolic of Ulaanbataar, headed by Filipino Scheut Missionary Bishop Wenceslao Padilla. According to the Vatican’s Fides news agency there are about 1,000 faithful in Mongolia’s 3 parishes, which is remarkable, as the Church has only been functioning in the country since 1992. (Source: UCAN)
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a special message expressing his condolences for the death of Bishop Edward Kevin Daly on Thursday, recalling his generous ministry in the service of peace and justice.The message was read by Msgr. Amaury Medina Blanco – Secretary of the Apostolic Nunziature to Ireland – at the funeral Mass celebrated for Bishop Daly in St. Eugene's Cathedral in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.Bishop Daly became one of the symbols of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland after being photographed holding up a blood-stained handkerchief as he helped a fatally injured protester during the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Derry when 14 people were shot dead by British troops. The special message of condolence from Pope Francis is below:The Holy Father was saddened to learn of the death of the Most Reverend Edward Kevin Daly, Bishop Emeritus of Derry, and he sends heartfelt condolences to his family and to the clergy, religious an...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a special message expressing his condolences for the death of Bishop Edward Kevin Daly on Thursday, recalling his generous ministry in the service of peace and justice.
The message was read by Msgr. Amaury Medina Blanco – Secretary of the Apostolic Nunziature to Ireland – at the funeral Mass celebrated for Bishop Daly in St. Eugene's Cathedral in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Bishop Daly became one of the symbols of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland after being photographed holding up a blood-stained handkerchief as he helped a fatally injured protester during the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Derry when 14 people were shot dead by British troops.
The special message of condolence from Pope Francis is below:
The Holy Father was saddened to learn of the death of the Most Reverend Edward Kevin Daly, Bishop Emeritus of Derry, and he sends heartfelt condolences to his family and to the clergy, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese. Recalling Bishop Daly’s generous and dedicated episcopal ministry in the service of peace and justice, His Holiness joins you in prayerful thanksgiving for his life and in commending his soul to the merciful love of God Our Father. To all who mourn the late Bishop’s passing, Pope Francis cordially imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of hope and consolation in our Lord Jesus Christ.
India’s Christian community "does not require any special favours; it wants justice, equality and minority protection, guaranteed by the Constitution of the country. Like other Dalits, Christian Dalits face discrimination, and are not protected from violence since they do not fall within the official category of Scheduled Castes,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the president of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, (CCBI), the body of the country’s Latin Rite bishops. The cardinal who is Archbishop of Bombay expressed his opinion to AsiaNews on the occasion of the ‘Black Day’ protests held every year on 10 August to highlight the discrimination against Christian Dalits. Dalit which means "broken" or “downtrodden”, denotes former "untouchables" so low in social status that they were considered outside the caste system of Hindu society. The Indian Constitution has given special...
India’s Christian community "does not require any special favours; it wants justice, equality and minority protection, guaranteed by the Constitution of the country. Like other Dalits, Christian Dalits face discrimination, and are not protected from violence since they do not fall within the official category of Scheduled Castes,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the president of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, (CCBI), the body of the country’s Latin Rite bishops. The cardinal who is Archbishop of Bombay expressed his opinion to AsiaNews on the occasion of the ‘Black Day’ protests held every year on 10 August to highlight the discrimination against Christian Dalits.
Dalit which means "broken" or “downtrodden”, denotes former "untouchables" so low in social status that they were considered outside the caste system of Hindu society. The Indian Constitution has given special privileges to dalit, tribal groups and scheduled castes to help their socioeconomic welfare. A presidential notification limiting the privileges to Hindus was twice amended to add Sikh and Buddhist dalit after they protested being excluded, but Christians and Muslims of low caste origin were excluded. For a long time, Dalit Christians and Muslims have deemed the notification discriminatory and a violation of the constitutional principles of equality and freedom to choose one’s own religion. Dalits represent about two thirds of India’s Christian community, who make up 2.3 per cent of the country’s population.
CCBI had called on Catholics to observe a black day in their respective dioceses and institutions, with meetings, demonstrations, hunger strikes and candle vigils to show solidarity with Christians who suffer. “Please make use of the media, especially social media, to spread the news to civil society," the bishops said. The CCBI said, "Human development indicators of Dalit Christians show social, economic, political and cultural discrimination that lead to widening income inequalities, poverty levels, and denial of equal opportunities and access to resources and services. The government must end discrimination against Dalit Christians.” Card. Gracias noted that even "in the Church, there is discrimination along caste lines”. But “as my late friend and Brother Archbishop Marampudi Joji would proudly say, ‘Only in the Catholic Church could a Dalit become an archbishop. I am the first Dalit archbishop.” (Source: AsiaNews)
The government of southern India’s Kerala state has said it is sending two ministers to Rome for the Sept. 4 canonization of Mother Teresa of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, PTI reported. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who heads the Kerala’s CPI (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front government said in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday that state Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas would represent the state government at the sainthood ceremony of the Albanian-born nun who became an Indian citizen. Vijayan told a press briefing the government was sending the delegation on the request of the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis of Trivandrum. Pope Francis announced in March that Mother Teresa would be declared a saint at a canonization or sainthood ceremony on September 4, the eve of her 19th death anniversar...
The government of southern India’s Kerala state has said it is sending two ministers to Rome for the Sept. 4 canonization of Mother Teresa of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, PTI reported. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who heads the Kerala’s CPI (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front government said in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday that state Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas would represent the state government at the sainthood ceremony of the Albanian-born nun who became an Indian citizen. Vijayan told a press briefing the government was sending the delegation on the request of the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis of Trivandrum.
Pope Francis announced in March that Mother Teresa would be declared a saint at a canonization or sainthood ceremony on September 4, the eve of her 19th death anniversary. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in what is Macedonia today, Mother Teresa died in Kolkata, on September 5, 1997. Affectionately known as the "saint of the gutter" for her unconditional love for the poor, abandoned and the marginalized, the naturalized Indian earned numerous national and international honours. She was beatified by St. Pope John Paul II in 2003.
(Vatican Radio) As the fight intensified for control of the Syrian city of Aleppo, local doctors and humanitarian workers speak of a worsening of the already dire conditions facing medical facilities operating in the contested city. Malteser International is the worldwide relief agency of the Order of Malta and it supports the only children’s hospital located in the rebel-held eastern side of Aleppo. Janine Lietmeyer is Malteser International’s Middle East Manager and she says the situation in their hospital and other medical facilities in Aleppo is “really, really desperate.” She was interviewed by Susy Hodges and told her how the doctors and medical workers at the children’s hospital are continuing their vital work of caring for premature babies as well as sick and wounded children despite the huge threats to their personal safety. Listen to the interview with Janine Lietmeyer of Malteser International: The area where the children&...
(Vatican Radio) As the fight intensified for control of the Syrian city of Aleppo, local doctors and humanitarian workers speak of a worsening of the already dire conditions facing medical facilities operating in the contested city. Malteser International is the worldwide relief agency of the Order of Malta and it supports the only children’s hospital located in the rebel-held eastern side of Aleppo. Janine Lietmeyer is Malteser International’s Middle East Manager and she says the situation in their hospital and other medical facilities in Aleppo is “really, really desperate.” She was interviewed by Susy Hodges and told her how the doctors and medical workers at the children’s hospital are continuing their vital work of caring for premature babies as well as sick and wounded children despite the huge threats to their personal safety.
Listen to the interview with Janine Lietmeyer of Malteser International:
The area where the children’s hospital supported by Malteser International is located has been besieged since late July and the facility recently moved its operations into the cellar of the building in order to give staff and patients as much safety as possible amidst the daily bombardments. Lietmeyer explained how U.N. and NGO relief organizations were “very reluctant” to risk the lives of their staff by sending in desperately-needed supplies to the city of Aleppo unless they obtain proper guarantees from all the warring parties that the guns will fall silent.
“The roads (around Aleppo) are simply not safe,” she said.
Lietmeyer points out that the children’s hospital supported by Malteser International is the only facility (in the eastern side of Aleppo) that can take care of premature babies and its staff took the courageous decision to stay on, rather than evacuate, so they can carry on providing support to the families and children of Aleppo despite the huge threats to their personal safety arising from the daily bombardments.
The United Nations and other humanitarian organizations have long claimed that medical facilities are being deliberately targed in Aleppo. Asked whether she agrees with that accusation, Lietmeyer said this is “definitely” the case and as a result hospitals are not just moving their operations underground to escape the shelling but also are often operating in private make-shift buildings to disguise their presence from the air. Noting that there are only 35 doctors left in the eastern side of Aleppo, Lietmeyer said this is far “too small” a number to serve such a large population.
In addition to the daily injuries caused by the shelling and bombardments, there are many other health issues due to the lack of water, electricity and other essential replies that she said are exacerbating a “really, really desperate” situation inside the city’s medical facilities.
“Abandoned to their fate”
Lietmeyer said the price of whatever food supplies are left in Aleppo are “skyrocketing” and what is particularly “depressing” for the local people is “the feeling that they have been abandoned to their fate” by the whole world that is by now "tired" of the daily bad news coming out of Syria.
