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LILLE, France (AP) -- French police used tear gas to disperse English soccer fans at the European Championship on Wednesday, the fourth time England fans have been involved in violent incidents since the start of the tournament....
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Walt Disney World closed beaches at its Florida resorts Wednesday while dozens of rescuers searched a lagoon for a 2-year-old boy who was presumed dead after being snatched off the shore and dragged underwater by an alligator....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Democratic senator launched a filibuster Wednesday to force a vote on gun control legislation three days after 49 people were killed at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history....
ATLANTA (AP) -- Omar Mateen alarmed co-workers with claims that he had ties to al-Qaeda and was a member of Hezbollah. One colleague recalled that he frequently used racial slurs and threatened violence while on the job....
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Latest on the massacre at a gay Orlando nightclub (all times local):...
Demonstrations erupted in Kenya's largest slum Tuesday over footage appearing to show a pro-government legislator saying top opposition leader Raila Odinga can be assassinated, an opposition official and witnesses said.Analysts say the remarks reflect long-simmering tribal tensions that are heating up again, eight years after they exploded into violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election. Kenya is holding general elections next year.A coffin marked with the name of the legislator, Moses Kuria, was burned during Tuesday's protests, said the head of the Orange Democratic Party in Kibera slum, Sam Ochieng. Odinga is the party's leader, and the slum of Kibera is an opposition stronghold.An Associated Press reporter saw police fire tear gas at demonstrators, who responded with stones.Kuria and seven other legislators have been questioned by police over remarks that police say may amount to hate speech. The legislators ...
Demonstrations erupted in Kenya's largest slum Tuesday over footage appearing to show a pro-government legislator saying top opposition leader Raila Odinga can be assassinated, an opposition official and witnesses said.
Analysts say the remarks reflect long-simmering tribal tensions that are heating up again, eight years after they exploded into violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election. Kenya is holding general elections next year.
A coffin marked with the name of the legislator, Moses Kuria, was burned during Tuesday's protests, said the head of the Orange Democratic Party in Kibera slum, Sam Ochieng. Odinga is the party's leader, and the slum of Kibera is an opposition stronghold.
An Associated Press reporter saw police fire tear gas at demonstrators, who responded with stones.
Kuria and seven other legislators have been questioned by police over remarks that police say may amount to hate speech. The legislators include four opposition members of parliament who threatened to storm the office of the police chief if he doesn't take action against Kuria.
In a video shot at a party over the weekend, Kuria apparently refers to recent opposition demonstrations to remove Kenya's electoral commission, which the protesters accuse of corruption and bias.
“He should be careful because he can as well bite a bullet,” Kuria says. “We won't be disturbed by one person. He can bite a bullet, we bury him the next Monday, they (Odinga supporters) throw stones for one week and life continues, isn't it so?'' He made the remarks in his mother tongue, Kikuyu.
At a press briefing, Tuesday held at Ol Lerai Jumuia Place, Nairobi, religious leaders in Kenya have responded by calling on the Kenyan government to curb hate speech and war mongering in the country.
The Nairobi-based Catholic Church news agency CISA reports that the religious leaders issued a statement urging the government to deal with growing hate speech rhetoric. The leaders who signed up to the statement are the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB); The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK); Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK); Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM); National Muslim Leaders Forum (NAMLEF); Organization of Africa Instituted Churches (OAIC) and Seventh Day Adventist Church.
“We have taken note of the rising cases of hate speech and war mongering associated with particular politicians. This trend is worrying and must not be allowed to take root in the country’s political culture,” the religious leaders said
The statement was read by Catholic Bishop, Cornelius Korir, who is the Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops-Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) and by Canon Peter Karanja, General Secretary of National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK).
(Source: AP; CISA in Kenya)
Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, in audience on Wednesday morning. Following the meeting with the Holy Father, Rutte met with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.A communiqué from the Press Office of the Holy See states that the Pope and the Prime Minister held cordial discussions that ouched on the good bilateral relations between the Netherlands and the Holy See, and focused on questions of mutual interest such as the phenomenon of migration, as well as various issues of an international character.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, in audience on Wednesday morning. Following the meeting with the Holy Father, Rutte met with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.
A communiqué from the Press Office of the Holy See states that the Pope and the Prime Minister held cordial discussions that ouched on the good bilateral relations between the Netherlands and the Holy See, and focused on questions of mutual interest such as the phenomenon of migration, as well as various issues of an international character.
(Vatican Radio) In a bid to promote religious harmony in Pakistan, Muslim farmers have joined hands with Christians to build a demolished church in Khalsabad village near Gojra in Toba Tek Singh district.Gojra made the news in 2009 when houses of Christians were attacked by a Muslim mob on accusations of blasphemy. As many as ten Christians were killed in the tragedy including seven who were burnt alive in their houses. Four churches located in nearby villages were also destroyed by the mob.However, some six years after the Gojra incident, Muslims of the same area have decided to support their Christian fellows in the construction of a mud chapel, which was swept away during the last monsoon rains season.Dilawar Hussain, who is a Muslim shopkeeper in the same village, also participated in the building of the church. He donated Rs10,000 for construction of the church, after he came to know about the project at a community meeting in the beginning of April.Hussain says that ch...
(Vatican Radio) In a bid to promote religious harmony in Pakistan, Muslim farmers have joined hands with Christians to build a demolished church in Khalsabad village near Gojra in Toba Tek Singh district.
Gojra made the news in 2009 when houses of Christians were attacked by a Muslim mob on accusations of blasphemy. As many as ten Christians were killed in the tragedy including seven who were burnt alive in their houses. Four churches located in nearby villages were also destroyed by the mob.
However, some six years after the Gojra incident, Muslims of the same area have decided to support their Christian fellows in the construction of a mud chapel, which was swept away during the last monsoon rains season.
Dilawar Hussain, who is a Muslim shopkeeper in the same village, also participated in the building of the church. He donated Rs10,000 for construction of the church, after he came to know about the project at a community meeting in the beginning of April.
Hussain says that church is also a house of Allah, the same God that Muslims believe in, and he is proud of the efforts to promote religious harmony in the area.
Other Muslim residents of the village also contributed to the chapel construction according to their economic condition. A local businessman donated the highest amount, Rs30,000, while another Muslim farmer gave Rs2,000 for the project.
Father Aftab James Paul, who is serving as assistant parish priest at the St Fidelis Church in Khushpur and is responsible to manage pastoral outreach in 56 villages including Khalsabad, sums up the coordination of Muslims and Christians saying, “This is what life is about.”
“Only days before Easter, the initiative was taken up by our Muslim brothers,” he said. According to Fr. James, Christians of the village had to use someone’s home — or some other site — to perform prayers on holy days. “Muslim residents of the town, however, offered to build us a chapel as a gift,” he said. “We are thankful to our Muslim brothers for this wonderful gesture. It makes us feel proud,” the priest said.
He says that the condemnable acts of the few should not be blamed on all the followers of a religion, while the message of love must be spread among society. "This is not the first time when Muslims have helped Christians to build a church, as a Catholic prayer place was also constructed in Gojra tehsil in 2005 with the help of Muslims."
“After local riots we are trying to bring people together even more,” villager Ijaz Farooq told the BBC. “We have increased our activity so we don’t have to face something like that. By building this church we want to show that we are united as a community,” he said.
The BBC report notes that unlike many other areas in Pakistan, Muslim and Christian households are not segregated in Khalsabad, which allows people of different faiths to share more of their lives together.
Faryal Masih, a Christian villager who grew up in the community, told the broadcaster: “Since my childhood we have all lived together in this one place. We live with love [and] attend each other’s weddings and festivals.
“We are together in times of happiness and grief. I pray that we never have to go through what happened in Gojra ever,” he said. The new chapel means Christians in the village will no longer have to rent or borrow a house to celebrate Christmas, Easter, and other holidays.
"At first I didn’t believe it when Muslim community leaders said they would build us a chapel, But to my surprise, construction work began within one month of the initial announcement," a visibly excited Faryad said. "Our community’s longtime dream is now coming true," he said.
(Vatican Radio) The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived on the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday ahead of the opening of a historic meeting of Orthodox leaders at the weekend.The ‘Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church’, as the week long encounter is called, was due to bring together the heads of the 14 Autocephalous, or self-governed, Orthodox Churches to consider some of the most pressing issues facing believers in countries around the world today.Over the past few weeks, the Bulgarian, Syrian, Georgian, Serbian and Russian Primates have threatened to boycott the meeting over questions they say should be settled before such a Synod can begin. Patriarch Bartholomew, who will preside at the meeting, said he is personally calling the other leaders to remind them of their responsibilities in light of their unanimous decision on the Council’s agenda, taken in Geneva at the end of January.Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting C...
(Vatican Radio) The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived on the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday ahead of the opening of a historic meeting of Orthodox leaders at the weekend.
The ‘Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church’, as the week long encounter is called, was due to bring together the heads of the 14 Autocephalous, or self-governed, Orthodox Churches to consider some of the most pressing issues facing believers in countries around the world today.
Over the past few weeks, the Bulgarian, Syrian, Georgian, Serbian and Russian Primates have threatened to boycott the meeting over questions they say should be settled before such a Synod can begin. Patriarch Bartholomew, who will preside at the meeting, said he is personally calling the other leaders to remind them of their responsibilities in light of their unanimous decision on the Council’s agenda, taken in Geneva at the end of January.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will be leading a Catholic delegation, together with representatives of other Christian denominations, to attend the opening Mass on Sunday and the first official session of the Council on Monday.
Yet even the decision to invite ecumenical observers to the opening and closing sessions was a sensitive question and the result of much discussion and compromise among the different Orthodox leaders. That’s according to historian and professor, Nicolas Kazarian, an Orthodox priest and specialist on the impact of religion on international relations.
Professor Kazarian spoke with Nicolas Papachristou about Orthodox Church’s relations with other Christians and about the issues the Council will be considering during this long awaited meeting…
Listen:
Fr Kazarian says the question of ecumenism is polarised between the more conservative Orthodox Churches and those which are more open to dialougue with other Christians. The Orthodox Church, he says, "has to get into the 21st century and ecumenism is one of the doors" that can lead there.
Professor Kazarian goes on to look at some of the six documents that have been prepared during the Council's lenthy preparatory stages which first started over 50 years ago. Some of these, he says, are clearly related to the life and issues facing believers in today's society, such as the one on marriage and the family....
The document on the practice of fasting, he says, was first drafted when many of the Orthodox countries were under Soviet rule and therefore people were discriminated against if they were seen to be fasting. Today, he says, the geo-political situation has changed and the question is more about how Orthodox believers deal with the problems of consumerism....
The third document Professor Kazarian mentions is the one dedicated to the mission of the Church in today's world. In his view this is a very significant document as it shows for the first time that the Orthodox wish to enter into dialogue, rather than remaining in isolation, and become a key player tackling the social and political problems of the world today....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met several people following his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, including 26 year-old Lena Bröder – Miss Germany 2016 – who also happens to be a teacher of religion and home economics in Germany’s school system.Bröder is also the author of a volume, Das Schöne in mir - Mit Glaube zum Erfolg – “The Beautiful in me: with faith to success” – due on bookshelves in Germany later this month.German wire service reports quote Bröder as calling the meeting with Pope Francis, “moving,” and as saying that she told the Holy Father she would have him in her prayers.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met several people following his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, including 26 year-old Lena Bröder – Miss Germany 2016 – who also happens to be a teacher of religion and home economics in Germany’s school system.
Bröder is also the author of a volume, Das Schöne in mir - Mit Glaube zum Erfolg – “The Beautiful in me: with faith to success” – due on bookshelves in Germany later this month.
German wire service reports quote Bröder as calling the meeting with Pope Francis, “moving,” and as saying that she told the Holy Father she would have him in her prayers.
