Catholic News 2
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Security forces chased three explosive-laden vehicles through Damascus Sunday, intercepting two of them at checkpoints but failing to stop the third before it exploded in the city center, killing at least eight people, state media and others reported....
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi forces say their recent territorial gains against the Islamic State group in Mosul's Old City have largely been propelled by airstrikes, despite a spike in allegations of civilian casualties and warnings from human rights groups of the dangers of using large munitions in the dense, highly-populated area....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is making a weekend push to get a Republican Senate bill to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law "across the finish line," Trump's top legislative aide said Sunday, maintaining that a repeal-only option also remained in play if Republicans can't reach agreement....
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) -- In his latest jab at the media, President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted a mock video that shows him pummeling a man in a business suit - his face obscured by the CNN logo - outside a wrestling ring....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis used his remarks ahead of the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer to reflect on the essential characteristics of Christian missionary discipleship, which he identified as being bound to Our Lord Jesus Christ and being bearers of Him – ambassadors of Christ, as St. Paul says – who put on Christ and bring Him to others, forsaking themselves and all others and everything else in the world for His sake.“Not,” explained Pope Francis, “because He wants us to be heartless and ungrateful – not hardly, not at all.”“On the contrary,” he continued, “because the condition of the disciple requires that one’s relationship with the Master take precedence over all others.”Departing from his prepared text, the Holy Father said, “Any and every disciple, whether he be a lay man, a lay woman, a priest, a bishop: the relationship [with Christ, the Divine Teacher] takes precedence.”Pope Franci...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis used his remarks ahead of the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer to reflect on the essential characteristics of Christian missionary discipleship, which he identified as being bound to Our Lord Jesus Christ and being bearers of Him – ambassadors of Christ, as St. Paul says – who put on Christ and bring Him to others, forsaking themselves and all others and everything else in the world for His sake.
“Not,” explained Pope Francis, “because He wants us to be heartless and ungrateful – not hardly, not at all.”
“On the contrary,” he continued, “because the condition of the disciple requires that one’s relationship with the Master take precedence over all others.”
Departing from his prepared text, the Holy Father said, “Any and every disciple, whether he be a lay man, a lay woman, a priest, a bishop: the relationship [with Christ, the Divine Teacher] takes precedence.”
Pope Francis concluded, saying, “The Virgin Mary felt in her own person what it means to love Jesus, detaching oneself from oneself, giving new meaning to family ties, beginning with faith in Him: may she help us, with her maternal intercession, to be free and cheerful missionaries of the Gospel.”
Vatican City, Jul 2, 2017 / 09:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a brief interview given just hours after hearing that he would no longer be heading the Vatican's doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the decision was normal, and was not the result of conflict between him and Pope Francis.“There were no differences between me and Pope Francis,” Cardinal Müller told Allgemeine Zeitung, a regional German paper from Mainz.Müller spoke to the paper while in Mainz for his 50th high school reunion. He traveled to the city Friday after meeting with Pope Francis earlier that morning, receiving the news that his term as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would not be renewed.The cardinal, 69, said that while he doesn't know the specifics of why his 5-year term was not extended, the Pope informed him of his desire to move away from trend of renewing curial mandates.Although it has until now been common for these 5-year terms to be ren...
Vatican City, Jul 2, 2017 / 09:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a brief interview given just hours after hearing that he would no longer be heading the Vatican's doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the decision was normal, and was not the result of conflict between him and Pope Francis.
“There were no differences between me and Pope Francis,” Cardinal Müller told Allgemeine Zeitung, a regional German paper from Mainz.
Müller spoke to the paper while in Mainz for his 50th high school reunion. He traveled to the city Friday after meeting with Pope Francis earlier that morning, receiving the news that his term as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would not be renewed.
The cardinal, 69, said that while he doesn't know the specifics of why his 5-year term was not extended, the Pope informed him of his desire to move away from trend of renewing curial mandates.
Although it has until now been common for these 5-year terms to be renewed, Müller said that during their meeting, Pope Francis said he wants to progressively move toward a general practice of limiting mandates to just 5 years, “and I happened to be the first one to which this applied.”
“It doesn't matter much to me,” Müller said, adding that “at some point, everyone has to stop.”
Müller was tapped to head the Vatican's doctrine office, the most important dicastery in the Roman Curia, by Benedict XVI before his resignation in 2012. The charge included the positions of president of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei,” the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.
Pope Francis renewed Müller's appointment to the CDF and to each of the commissions after his election, allowing the prelate to serve the entirety of his 5-year term in each, which ends July 2.
The Vatican announced July 1 that taking Müller's place will be Jesuit Archbishop Luis Ladaria, who was appointed secretary to the CDF by Benedict XVI in 2008, and is known to be simple, orthodox in his theology, highly intellectual and is described by those who know him as not being a “yes man.”
In his interview with “Allgemeine Zeitung,” Müller simply stated that his 5 year mandate as prefect of the CDF “had now run its course,” and the decision to replace him had nothing to do with conflict that's been painted between he and the Pope.
Nor was it the result of differing opinions on Francis' 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia.” While the two didn't agree on all aspects of the text, the cardinal insisted there was no fight about it.
Despite their disagreements on some points, Müller is known to have been a conservative voice within the Curia, and, contrary to other German prelates, backed more traditional interpretations of Chapter 8 of the document, which touched on the reception of communion for divorced and remarried couples.
However, the cardinal did voice his disappointment in Francis' decision to dismiss three members of his staff a few weeks ago, noting that the officials “were competent people.”
Regarding his new role, Müller said that after ceasing his position as head of the CDF July 3, he will stay at the Vatican.
“I will work academically, continue to serve in my role as cardinal, do pastoral work. There is enough for me to do in Rome,” he said, adding that “in any case, I would normally be a pensioner by now.”
MOSCOW (AP) -- The chief executive of Russia's Kaspersky Lab says he's ready to have his company's source code examined by U.S. government officials to help dispel long-lingering suspicions about his company's ties to the Kremlin....
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert left prison Sunday after winning early release from a parole board, capping an ignominious chapter of Israeli history that transformed the once-powerful leader into the first premier ever to be placed behind bars....
NEW YORK (AP) -- A doctor disguised as one who would save lives came to the New York hospital that had spurned him only to try to destroy them instead, replacing his stethoscope and scalpel with an assault rifle, authorities say....
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- President Donald Trump is breaking with tradition by visiting Poland, an ex-communist country in central Europe, before making a presidential visit to longtime allies Britain, France or Germany....
