Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican senators complained about their party's secretive health care bill Wednesday, a day before GOP leaders planned to finally release their plan for erasing much of President Barack Obama's health care law....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Adrift and nearly out of money after three months of living out of his van in the Washington area, the gunman who shot a top House Republican and four other people on a Virginia baseball field didn't have any concrete plans to inflict violence on the Republicans he loathed, FBI officials said Wednesday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A sinister portrait of Russia's cyberattacks on the U.S. emerged Wednesday as current and former U.S. officials told Congress Moscow stockpiled stolen information and selectively disseminated it during the 2016 presidential campaign to undermine the American political process....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Party divisions were on glaring display Wednesday as a special election loss in a wildly expensive Georgia House race left bitter lawmakers turning their anger on their own leaders....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday fired its highly regarded chief foreign affairs correspondent after evidence emerged of his involvement in prospective commercial deals - including one involving arms sales to foreign governments - with an international businessman who was one of his key sources....
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A Milwaukee jury on Wednesday acquitted a former police officer in the on-duty shooting of a black man last year that ignited riots on the city's north side....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received a delegation from the National Football League’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday.Addressing the 43-member delegation representing the trustees and members of the organization that honors the great players in the history of the premier professional American football league, the Holy Father spoke of sport as a bridge-builder that can be a powerful tool in creating a culture of encounter, especially by fostering virtues of fair play, teamwork, and pursuit of excellence.Click below to hear our report “Our world,” said Pope Francis, “and especially our young people, need models, persons who show us how to bring out the best in ourselves, to use our God-given gifts and talents, and, in so doing, to point the way to a better future for our societies.”Pope Francis concluded expressing the hope that the delegates’ visit to Rome might help them grow in gratitude for gifts received and inspire them to share those gifts ever ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received a delegation from the National Football League’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
Addressing the 43-member delegation representing the trustees and members of the organization that honors the great players in the history of the premier professional American football league, the Holy Father spoke of sport as a bridge-builder that can be a powerful tool in creating a culture of encounter, especially by fostering virtues of fair play, teamwork, and pursuit of excellence.
Click below to hear our report
“Our world,” said Pope Francis, “and especially our young people, need models, persons who show us how to bring out the best in ourselves, to use our God-given gifts and talents, and, in so doing, to point the way to a better future for our societies.”
Pope Francis concluded expressing the hope that the delegates’ visit to Rome might help them grow in gratitude for gifts received and inspire them to share those gifts ever more generously in shaping a more fraternal world.
(Vatican Radio) Bishops of the Amazon region are working together to support new projects and initiatives that aim to safeguard and care for the Amazon biome.The Amazon biome, which covers parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas.This vast natural and cultural resource of the Earth is experiencing devastation and isthreatened by concessions transacted by nation states to transnational corporations. It is in this context that the Latin American Catholic Church has come to support farmers and Indigenous Peoples who deal with abuses by the extractive industries sector in the Amazon, which in turn are damaging the environment. Currently ongoing is the third Meeting of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network "REPAM-Colombia" which opened in Leticia on June 19 and scheduled to run until J...
(Vatican Radio) Bishops of the Amazon region are working together to support new projects and initiatives that aim to safeguard and care for the Amazon biome.
The Amazon biome, which covers parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas.
This vast natural and cultural resource of the Earth is experiencing devastation and isthreatened by concessions transacted by nation states to transnational corporations. It is in this context that the Latin American Catholic Church has come to support farmers and Indigenous Peoples who deal with abuses by the extractive industries sector in the Amazon, which in turn are damaging the environment.
Currently ongoing is the third Meeting of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network "REPAM-Colombia" which opened in Leticia on June 19 and scheduled to run until June 24. During the meeting the some 100 participants aim to define the most appropriate strategies for working together for the care of the Amazon biome,
The meeting, focusing on the reality of the Colombian Amazon, also aims to strengthen the identity of REPAM-Colombia in the light of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Sì”, as a path for reconciliation and protection of the Colombian Amazon.
It also aims to strengthen ecclesial work in communion, to be more effective as a network and to agree on the implementation of a common action plan.
The meeting opened with the celebration of Holy Mass in suffrage of the victims of the landslide that devastated the town of Mocoa at the end of March.
According to the programme for the meeting, the focus is on the situation of the territories and local churches in the three sub-regions of the Amazon.
Environmental experts and religious leaders will take to the floor and the event will conclude with the intervention of Antalia Ti Jachi Kulluedo, Chief of the Uitoto people, who will propose a reflection on reconciliation between indigenous peoples and the Church.
A concrete action plan will be drawn up in response to the major challenges of host nation Colombia’s Amazon region.
Hundreds of thousands of men, women and young people of almost every age took to the mat across the globe on Wednesday for a yoga session to mark the 3rd International Yoga Day. Rains failed to dampen the spirits of about 50,000 who joined an outdoor yoga session, June 21, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in a park in Lucknow, capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh."Yoga has connected the world with India," Modi told a cheering crowd. "Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice," said Modi who was instrumental in getting the United Nations declare the International Yoga Day in December 2014. The first International Yoga Day was marked on June 21, 2015. The physical, mental and spiritual practice which aims to transform both body and mind, began in ancient India, and is popular throughout the globe. The Modi's official Twitter handle, which has more than 30 million followers, has po...
Hundreds of thousands of men, women and young people of almost every age took to the mat across the globe on Wednesday for a yoga session to mark the 3rd International Yoga Day. Rains failed to dampen the spirits of about 50,000 who joined an outdoor yoga session, June 21, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in a park in Lucknow, capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
"Yoga has connected the world with India," Modi told a cheering crowd. "Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice," said Modi who was instrumental in getting the United Nations declare the International Yoga Day in December 2014. The first International Yoga Day was marked on June 21, 2015. The physical, mental and spiritual practice which aims to transform both body and mind, began in ancient India, and is popular throughout the globe.
The Modi's official Twitter handle, which has more than 30 million followers, has posted pictures of mass yoga sessions in China, Colombia, the United States, Paraguay, Mexico, Italy, Singapore and atop Machu Picchu, a 15th century Inca citadel in Peru. Social media was flooded with pictures of yoga, the country's signature cultural export, being performed in various places including an Indian Navy submarine and the landing deck of an aircraft carrier.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee held a yoga session at the presidential palace and several members of Modi's cabinet joined similar events across the country. Meanwhile, some hundred diplomats from various foreign missions joined a yoga session organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in the Indian capital. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and a number of high-ranking officials of the ministry were among those who attended the event.
In her brief remarks, Ms Swaraj stressed that yoga belongs not merely to India, but to the whole world and that it is a "complete system" for wellbeing and harmony "within ourselves, as well as with nature".
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has pledged to donate about half a million dollars to support Church-run education, healthcare and agricultural projects in South Sudan.At a press conference in the Vatican on Wednesday, Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the office for Integral Human Development, led a panel of speakers giving details of those humanitarian projects, run by Caritas and by missionaries from different religious institutes. The cardinal also outlined numerous initiatives that the Holy See has taken to stop the war, which flared across the country in 2013.Listen to Philippa HItchen's report: Pope Francis may have postponed a planned visit to war-torn South Sudan this year, but he’s clearly more determined than ever to raise awareness about the need to support those suffering from conflict and starvation.Over half the population doesn’t have enough food to eat, a million and a half people have fled their homes, thousands are suffering from a cholera epidemic an...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has pledged to donate about half a million dollars to support Church-run education, healthcare and agricultural projects in South Sudan.
At a press conference in the Vatican on Wednesday, Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the office for Integral Human Development, led a panel of speakers giving details of those humanitarian projects, run by Caritas and by missionaries from different religious institutes. The cardinal also outlined numerous initiatives that the Holy See has taken to stop the war, which flared across the country in 2013.
Listen to Philippa HItchen's report:
Pope Francis may have postponed a planned visit to war-torn South Sudan this year, but he’s clearly more determined than ever to raise awareness about the need to support those suffering from conflict and starvation.
Over half the population doesn’t have enough food to eat, a million and a half people have fled their homes, thousands are suffering from a cholera epidemic and untold numbers are victims of killings, rapes and other violent crimes.
Faces behind the statistics
But beyond the shocking statistics of this largely forgotten war, it’s vital to remember the individual victims – that’s why aid workers have started a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #southsudanwecare
Among those speaking at the Vatican press conference was Sr Yudith Pereira-Rico, from Solidarity with South Sudan, an organisation founded by male and female religious congregations over a decade ago:
“We don’t talk about numbers, we talk about individuals who are suffering….any time a young man or woman in South Sudan clicks this hashtag they will know how many people care.....this moral support is very important"
Part of the pope’s donation will go to support a college in Yambio run by Solidarity with South Sudan to train teachers, nurses, midwives, farmers and community leaders. As well as learning vital job skills, the students from many different ethnic groups learn about the values of diversity and collaboration, an important sign of hope for the country which gained independence in 2011.
Caritas and Comboni missionaries
Other beneficiaries of the initiative entitled ‘The Pope for South Sudan’ include two hospitals run by Comboni missionaries and an agricultural project, run by Caritas, to provide livelihoods for 2.500 families in the dioceses of Yei, Yambio and Torit. Michel Roy, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, told journalists that while peace must be the priority for South Sudan, the international community must also do more to save lives of those dying from hunger and disease
“The UN has launched an appeal, right now it is half funded, there’s a real need for the international community to engage more, much more. This cannot be just another forgotten conflict, like Darfur…”
Holy See mediation efforts
Asked about Vatican initiatives to try and stop the fighting, Cardinal Peter Turkson said he had been personally involved in two mediation efforts to bring together warring leaders President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar. Amid concerns that the conflict was spreading across the region, the nuncio in Kenya also met with Machar last December to urge the parties to come to the negotiating table.
Planned peace pilgrimage
So far, these attempts have failed to bring peace, but Cardinal Turkson stressed the Holy See continues to do all it can to stop the fighting in South Sudan. That’s a key condition before a planned visit to the region by the pope and by Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, can take place. While they had hoped to travel together in October to endorse peace efforts of all Christians in the region, that trip has been postponed until at least 2018.
