Vatican City, Apr 9, 2016 / 06:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will journey this summer to Armenia, and will visit Georgia and Azerbaijan later in the year, the Vatican announced Saturday.The visit to Armenia will take place June 24-26, following the invitation of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, the nation's civil authorities, and the Catholic Church, according to the April 9 statement from the Holy See press office.Francis himself had expressed his wish to go to the Caucasus nation in his Nov. 30 press conference in the flight from Central Africa. In 2014, he said: “I promised the three (Armenian) Patriarchs that I would go: the promise has been made. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I did promise.”Armenia is the site of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire which targeted Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christian minorities. Some 1.5 million Christians, most of them Armenians, were killed, and millions more...
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2016 / 06:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will journey this summer to Armenia, and will visit Georgia and Azerbaijan later in the year, the Vatican announced Saturday.
The visit to Armenia will take place June 24-26, following the invitation of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, the nation's civil authorities, and the Catholic Church, according to the April 9 statement from the Holy See press office.
Francis himself had expressed his wish to go to the Caucasus nation in his Nov. 30 press conference in the flight from Central Africa. In 2014, he said: “I promised the three (Armenian) Patriarchs that I would go: the promise has been made. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I did promise.”
Armenia is the site of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire which targeted Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christian minorities. Some 1.5 million Christians, most of them Armenians, were killed, and millions more were displaced during the genocide.
Speaking during a Sept. 7 Mass, the Pope called it “one of many great persecutions.”
Francis will be the second pontiff to visit Armenia, after St. John Paul II's 2001 visit to the nation.
From Sept. 20 – Oct. 2, the Pope will visit the Caucasus nations of Georgia and Azerbaijan, having accepted “the invitations from His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia, and the civil and religious authorities of Georgia and Azerbaijan,” the Vatican statement said.
Georgia and Azerbaijan had previously been visited by St. John Paul II in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
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(Vatican Radio) The charity, Save the Children, says the peace talks in Yemen are the last chance to prevent the nation’s dire humanitarian crisis from continuing its slide towards a famine. The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a cessation of hostilities from April 10th and the opening of peace talks on April 18th. The charity’s warning comes on the heels of a recent UN report that said nearly half of Yemen’s provinces are on the verge of famine and 82 percent of the population has a desperate need of humanitarian assistance to get by. Save the Children says over 320,000 children face severe malnutrition in Yemen and the conflict that has raged there over the past year has exacerbated this already dire humanitarian crisis. Grant Pritchard is Director of Advocacy and Communications for the charity and is currently in Yemen. He told Susy Hodges that Yemen’s conflict with its devastating consequences for the population is a “forgotten crisis...
(Vatican Radio) The charity, Save the Children, says the peace talks in Yemen are the last chance to prevent the nation’s dire humanitarian crisis from continuing its slide towards a famine. The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a cessation of hostilities from April 10th and the opening of peace talks on April 18th. The charity’s warning comes on the heels of a recent UN report that said nearly half of Yemen’s provinces are on the verge of famine and 82 percent of the population has a desperate need of humanitarian assistance to get by.
Save the Children says over 320,000 children face severe malnutrition in Yemen and the conflict that has raged there over the past year has exacerbated this already dire humanitarian crisis. Grant Pritchard is Director of Advocacy and Communications for the charity and is currently in Yemen. He told Susy Hodges that Yemen’s conflict with its devastating consequences for the population is a “forgotten crisis.”
Listen to the interview with Grant Pritchard of Save the Children:
The spread of hunger amongst Yemen’s population, especially its children, has been one of the most heart-breaking and horrific consequences of the nation’s war that pits Shiite Houthi rebels against the Saudi-led coalition.
“Crisis deteriorating by the day”
Pritchard noted that Yemen was a country that already had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world before the war and said that according to UN figures the number of people considered severely food insecure or “unable to put food on the table without outside help” went from 4.3 million to more than 7 million over the past 12 months. This grave humanitarian crisis, he warned, is continuing to “deteriorate by the day.”
While welcoming the peace talks and cessation of hostilities Pritchard pointed out that the scale of human suffering in Yemen is already staggering and said economists estimate that the nation’s development has been “pushed back by a decade” as a result of this conflict. Noting there are thousands or tens of thousands of Yemen’s children “going hungry and thirsty every day, he stressed, “There’s a desperate need for peace.”
Peace talks: “last chance”
Asked about the risk of Yemen continuing its slide towards a famine situation if the peace talks were to fail, Pritchard is in no doubt that these talks represent “the last chance” in terms of preventing this from happening.
Put simply, a halt to the fighting can't come a moment too soon for Yemen's suffering population.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday held his special monthly Jubilee Audience in Saint Peter’s Square. The Holy Father focused his remarks on “Mercy and Almsgiving.”Below, please find the official English language summary of the Pope’s remarks:Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now consider the practice of almsgiving. Our English word “alms” comes from an ancient Greek word itself meaning “mercy”. Giving “alms” is more than simply giving money; it is a matter of heart-felt concern for those in genuine need. The Bible speaks of almsgiving as a God-given duty, which must be carried out freely and joyfully, but also with a sense of responsibility. We need to distinguish the truly poor from the various forms of begging which do not help them. Jesus himself encourages a quiet and sincere concern for others who need our help, but warns against acts of charity performed t...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday held his special monthly Jubilee Audience in Saint Peter’s Square. The Holy Father focused his remarks on “Mercy and Almsgiving.”
Below, please find the official English language summary of the Pope’s remarks:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now consider the practice of almsgiving. Our English word “alms” comes from an ancient Greek word itself meaning “mercy”. Giving “alms” is more than simply giving money; it is a matter of heart-felt concern for those in genuine need. The Bible speaks of almsgiving as a God-given duty, which must be carried out freely and joyfully, but also with a sense of responsibility. We need to distinguish the truly poor from the various forms of begging which do not help them. Jesus himself encourages a quiet and sincere concern for others who need our help, but warns against acts of charity performed to gain the approval of others. In our efforts to be merciful, let us take to heart his words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
