Catholic News 2
BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Latest on the 141st running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course (all times local):...
Vietnam granted early release from prison to Fr. Nguyen Van Ly who was arrested for promoting political and religious freedoms in the communist nation. Fr. Nguyen Van Ly’s release is seen as a goodwill gesture before U.S. President Barack Obama’s arrival on an official visit late Sunday night. Father Ly is considered to be a most prominent dissidents in Vietnam.The Catholic Archdiocese of the central city of Hue reported on its webpage that it welcomed the return Friday of 70-year-old Father Nguyen Van Ly from prison. Photos on its website showed a frail Ly being helped off a minibus, kneeling to pay his respects to his senior colleagues, then being led to a room prepared for him at the diocese. He has suffered several health crises while imprisoned.Ly has served several long terms in prison or under house arrest for promoting political and religious freedoms in the communist nation. He has been serving an eight-year prison term since March 2007 after b...
Vietnam granted early release from prison to Fr. Nguyen Van Ly who was arrested for promoting political and religious freedoms in the communist nation.
Fr. Nguyen Van Ly’s release is seen as a goodwill gesture before U.S. President Barack Obama’s arrival on an official visit late Sunday night.
Father Ly is considered to be a most prominent dissidents in Vietnam.The Catholic Archdiocese of the central city of Hue reported on its webpage that it welcomed the return Friday of 70-year-old Father Nguyen Van Ly from prison. Photos on its website showed a frail Ly being helped off a minibus, kneeling to pay his respects to his senior colleagues, then being led to a room prepared for him at the diocese. He has suffered several health crises while imprisoned.
Ly has served several long terms in prison or under house arrest for promoting political and religious freedoms in the communist nation. He has been serving an eight-year prison term since March 2007 after being convicted of spreading propaganda against the state. He was first jailed in 1977, two years after the Communist takeover of all Vietnam.
Vietnam's persecution of dissidents has been a roadblock to warmer relations with the United States, from which it is seeking the lifting of an arms embargo. Washington and Hanoi share a strategic interest in challenging Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, some of which are in areas long claimed by Vietnam.
The government's relations have always been strained with the Catholic church, associated with French colonial rule and the former anti-communist South Vietnam, as well as an influential power base independent of the ruling Communist Party's control.
The U.S. State Department said it welcomed the amnesty for Ly.
"We consistently have called for the release of Father Ly and all other prisoners of conscience in Vietnam," said Gabrielle Price, the department's spokeswoman for East Asia and Pacific affairs. "We remain deeply concerned for all prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. We call on the government to release unconditionally all prisoners of conscience and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views peacefully without fear of retribution."
More than a dozen human rights groups last month sent an appeal to President Obama urging him to press Hanoi to release political prisoners.
The appeal, whose signees included Human Rights Watch as well as groups focusing on Vietnam, urged him "to make clear, both in private and in public, that (the) U.S.-Vietnamese relationship will not fundamentally advance absent meaningful human rights improvements, including the release of imprisoned activists, and end to harassment of civil society groups, and respect for international law." (AP)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- It is the last remaining relic of an ancient forest that stretched for millennia across the lowlands of Europe and Russia, a shadowy, mossy woodland where bison and lynx roam beneath towering oak trees up to 600 years old....
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Thousands of anti-abortion activists gathered in Wichita in 1991 for the Summer of Mercy, sparking tumultuous mass protests that led to nearly 2,700 arrests outside local clinics and crowning the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue as the symbol of the movement....
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A sky-darkening storm was working its way into southwest Missouri around dinnertime on a Sunday evening, zeroing in on the city of Joplin....
PARIS (AP) -- Explosives in the form of paper, or concealed in a medicine-sized bottle and looking like salt. Tiny electric detonators. Security agents at the main airport in Paris are trained to detect all manner of increasingly sophisticated devices that could doom a flight....
(Vatican Radio) Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has said he never told anyone the publication of the “Third Secret of Fatima” in the year 2000 was incomplete, and confirmed the document was published in its totality.A Communiqué was published Saturday by the Holy See Press Office on various articles regarding the “Third Secret of Fatima.”“ Several articles have appeared recently, including declarations attributed to Professor Ingo Dollinger according to which Cardinal Ratzinger, after the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima (which took place in June 2000), had confided to him that the publication was not complete,” – the Communiqué reads – “In this regard, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI declares ‘never to have spoken with Professor Dollinger about Fatima’, clearly affirming that the remarks attributed to Professor Dollinger on the matter ‘are pure inventions, absolutely untrue’, and he confirm...
(Vatican Radio) Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has said he never told anyone the publication of the “Third Secret of Fatima” in the year 2000 was incomplete, and confirmed the document was published in its totality.
A Communiqué was published Saturday by the Holy See Press Office on various articles regarding the “Third Secret of Fatima.”
“ Several articles have appeared recently, including declarations attributed to Professor Ingo Dollinger according to which Cardinal Ratzinger, after the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima (which took place in June 2000), had confided to him that the publication was not complete,” – the Communiqué reads – “In this regard, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI declares ‘never to have spoken with Professor Dollinger about Fatima’, clearly affirming that the remarks attributed to Professor Dollinger on the matter ‘are pure inventions, absolutely untrue’, and he confirms decisively that ‘the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima is complete’.”
Three children in Portugal saw apparition of the Virgin Mary six times between May and October 1917
According to one of the visionaries – Sr. Lúcia de Jesus Rosa Santos – on July 13, 1917, Our Lady entrusted the children with three secrets, which she later wrote down and delivered to the Pope.
The third secret was not revealed with the others, but Pope John Paul II decided to release it in the Jubilee Year of 2000.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday morning met with the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who subsequently met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States.A statement from the Holy See Press Office called the discussions “cordial”, and said “satisfaction was expressed for the good state of bilateral relations and various themes of mutual interest were considered, with particular reference to the life of the Church in Belarus and the peaceful co-existence between Catholic and Orthodox communities, and with other religious confessions, in the country.”The statement also said the role played by the capital of the country, the city of Minsk, which hosted recent discussions with the aim of seeking solutions for peace in the Region, “was underlined.”President Lukashenko presented several gifts to Pope Fr...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday morning met with the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who subsequently met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States.
A statement from the Holy See Press Office called the discussions “cordial”, and said “satisfaction was expressed for the good state of bilateral relations and various themes of mutual interest were considered, with particular reference to the life of the Church in Belarus and the peaceful co-existence between Catholic and Orthodox communities, and with other religious confessions, in the country.”
The statement also said the role played by the capital of the country, the city of Minsk, which hosted recent discussions with the aim of seeking solutions for peace in the Region, “was underlined.”
President Lukashenko presented several gifts to Pope Francis: A cross, an icon, and a model of a carriage made from homemade pasta.
Pope Francis gave the President copies of the three most significant documents of his papacy: The Encyclical Laudato si', and the Apostolic Exhortations Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia.
Ahead of this visit, the Vatican Museums hosted an exhibit of sacred art from Belarus, consisting of 31 icons and 2 icon covers dating as far back as the 17th century.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A solar-powered airplane that landed in Oklahoma last week is headed to Ohio on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump poured more than $7.5 million of his own money into his presidential campaign in April, bringing his total personal investment to more than $43 million since he declared his candidacy, new campaign finance reports filed late Friday show....
