Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- While more than 50 years of enmity between the United States and Cuba is slowly vanishing, the renewed relationship is raising concerns among some on the communist island nation that the U.S. could also erase a unique immigration policy that favors Cubans....
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- With fresh friction wearing on an old alliance, President Barack Obama pressed Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf nations on Wednesday to step up efforts to defeat the Islamic State group and help rebuild war-torn Iraq....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has decided to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, making her the first woman on U.S. paper currency in 100 years, a Treasury official said Wednesday....
GENEVA (AP) -- As many as 500 people are feared dead after a shipwreck last week in the Mediterranean Sea, two international groups said Wednesday, describing survivors' accounts of panicked passengers who desperately tried to stay afloat by jumping between vessels....
FLINT, Mich. (AP) -- The Flint water crisis became a criminal case Wednesday when two state regulators and a city employee were charged with official misconduct, evidence-tampering and other offenses over the lead contamination that has alarmed the nation and brought cries of racism....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton, the nearly unstoppable Democrat, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump accelerated Wednesday toward Northeast primaries on an increasingly direct path to presidential nominations after trouncing party challengers in New York....
(Vatican Radio) Before his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted athletes from the Austrian Skiing Federation in the Paul VI complex, telling them they were models especially for young people. But he also reminded them that sport was not just about performance, it was also about the virtues and values that sport represents such as, commitment, perseverance, determination, honesty, solidarity, and team spirit.“By your example”, the Pope continued, “you contribute to the shaping of society”, adding, “always be messengers of the uniting power of sport and hospitality”.And alluding to the natural wealth of the country, Pope Francis invited the Federation to be messengers of safeguarding the environment and the beauty of God's creation.
(Vatican Radio) Before his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted athletes from the Austrian Skiing Federation in the Paul VI complex, telling them they were models especially for young people. But he also reminded them that sport was not just about performance, it was also about the virtues and values that sport represents such as, commitment, perseverance, determination, honesty, solidarity, and team spirit.
“By your example”, the Pope continued, “you contribute to the shaping of society”, adding, “always be messengers of the uniting power of sport and hospitality”.
And alluding to the natural wealth of the country, Pope Francis invited the Federation to be messengers of safeguarding the environment and the beauty of God's creation.
(Vatican Radio) The Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was one of the featured speakers scheduled to deliver words of welcome on Wednesday at a ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the UNIDROIT, at the Altieri palace in Rome.Established in 1926 as an auxiliary organ of the League of Nations, and re-established in 1940 on the basis of a multilateral agreement, UNIDROIT has made significant contributions to the modernisation and harmonisation of private law together with the numerous partner organisations and entities with which it has collaborated and maintains close ties of cooperation and friendship.In Cardinal Parolin’s prepared remarks, he said, “I wish to pay tribute to all the work accomplished by UNIDROIT and to renew the call tirelessly to work for the spread of the message of universal peace, harmony and concord, worldwide, using all means fairly at our disposal.”Throughout the anniversary year, UNIDROIT plans...
(Vatican Radio) The Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was one of the featured speakers scheduled to deliver words of welcome on Wednesday at a ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the UNIDROIT, at the Altieri palace in Rome.
Established in 1926 as an auxiliary organ of the League of Nations, and re-established in 1940 on the basis of a multilateral agreement, UNIDROIT has made significant contributions to the modernisation and harmonisation of private law together with the numerous partner organisations and entities with which it has collaborated and maintains close ties of cooperation and friendship.
In Cardinal Parolin’s prepared remarks, he said, “I wish to pay tribute to all the work accomplished by UNIDROIT and to renew the call tirelessly to work for the spread of the message of universal peace, harmony and concord, worldwide, using all means fairly at our disposal.”
Throughout the anniversary year, UNIDROIT plans to hold a series of celebratory events devoted to the role and place of private law in supporting the implementation of the international community’s broader cooperation and development objectives.
Over a thousand young Indians will be among two million youth who will attend World Youth Day (WYD) 2016 in Krakow, PolandThis is what the Indian Bishops' Conference (CBCI) said, reporting that the Polish Government has decided to issue a free visa for Indian participants who will apply. Registration will end in late June and the " Catholic Indian Youth Movement" will coordinate the registration of young Indians. Bishop Henry D'Souza of Bellary will lead the Indian delegation in Poland.In a recent conference presentation, the Apostolic Nuncio in India, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, described World Youth Days as "a fruitful dialogue between young people and the Church”. Krakow - he explained - has been chosen as the venue of the event as it is associated with two promoters of Divine Mercy: Sister Faustina Kowalska and Pope John Paul II.During his stay in Poland, Pope Francis will visit the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy and the Chape...
Over a thousand young Indians will be among two million youth who will attend World Youth Day (WYD) 2016 in Krakow, Poland
This is what the Indian Bishops' Conference (CBCI) said, reporting that the Polish Government has decided to issue a free visa for Indian participants who will apply. Registration will end in late June and the " Catholic Indian Youth Movement" will coordinate the registration of young Indians. Bishop Henry D'Souza of Bellary will lead the Indian delegation in Poland.
In a recent conference presentation, the Apostolic Nuncio in India, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, described World Youth Days as "a fruitful dialogue between young people and the Church”. Krakow - he explained - has been chosen as the venue of the event as it is associated with two promoters of Divine Mercy: Sister Faustina Kowalska and Pope John Paul II.
During his stay in Poland, Pope Francis will visit the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy and the Chapel of Sister Faustina.
Participants from 175 countries will stand by Pope Francis from July 26 to 31. The chosen theme is "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy", in harmony with the Year of Mercy celebrated throughout the Church. (Fides)
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday prayed for the victims of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station disaster 30 years from the tragedy.Addressing the various groups of pilgrims of different nationalities present in St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience, the Pope had special greetings for those from Ukraine and Belarus.Mentioning the International Conference that has been organized to mark the anniversary, Pope Francis said he is “praying for the victims of that disaster while expressing appreciation and gratitude to those who have assisted them and for the initiatives aimed at alleviating their suffering and the damage.”Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni asked Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, to recall what happened at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986:Listen: Kate Hudson explains that during routine activity at the Nuclear Power Station there was an unexpected power surge and attempts to deal with it the resulting in a...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday prayed for the victims of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station disaster 30 years from the tragedy.
Addressing the various groups of pilgrims of different nationalities present in St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience, the Pope had special greetings for those from Ukraine and Belarus.
Mentioning the International Conference that has been organized to mark the anniversary, Pope Francis said he is “praying for the victims of that disaster while expressing appreciation and gratitude to those who have assisted them and for the initiatives aimed at alleviating their suffering and the damage.”
Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni asked Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, to recall what happened at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986:
Listen:
Kate Hudson explains that during routine activity at the Nuclear Power Station there was an unexpected power surge and attempts to deal with it the resulting in a reactor fire which provoked an enormous disaster at the Power Station.
She says it was located in the former Western Soviet Union, just inside the Ukrainian border, but it “very much impacted on Belarus and Russia and of course Western Europe as well eventually, through the transportation by air and the weather systems of the radiation”.
Hudson says the result was an absolute catastrophe for the local population: “the nearest city, Pribyat, had to be evacuated and hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the area and permanently re-located away from their homes”.
“Of course the environmental consequences – huge areas that are not allowed to be lived in – the health consequences are still very much with the community there. The instances of childhood thyroid cancer and leukemia are very much more prevalent in that area” she says.
Hudson points out that it is a tragedy ongoing.
”It was wonderful to hear the Pope’s words on this subject: his humanitarian response to the needs of that community and of the support that they continue to receive” she says.
Kate Hudson goes on to speak of the 2011 Nuclear Power Station disaster in Fukushima and of how, in many respects, it does not appear that the world has learnt its lesson.
She talks of the need to be vigilant and to advocate for alternative energy production, of the many large and small nuclear power station incidents that have happened and continue to take place, and of the role of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
“We urge people to look at the consequences of government decisions, whether they are on nuclear energy or on nuclear weapons: it’s a technology that is too dangerous to retain” she says.
