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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's move to tighten controls on gun sales could discourage some unlicensed private sellers from doing business over the Internet and at gun shows. But the White House and others can't say how many transactions it will block or how much bloodshed it may prevent....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama, at one point wiping tears from his cheek, unveiled his plan Tuesday to tighten control and enforcement of firearms in the U.S., using his presidential powers in the absence of legal changes he implored Congress to pass....
"Where else can we find God's light today?" asked Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, on January 3, during his first Sunday Mass of the year with Manila's urban poor in the slums of Tondo district.In his homily for the Feast of the Three Kings, Cardinal Tagle likened parents to the Star of Bethlehem, "the shining light of children." As guiding stars, parents should make sure their children tread the right path, to help them fulfill their dreams, and raise them as good Christians, the prelate said.Cardinal Tagle pointed to a "parol," a Filipino traditional Christmas lantern, and asked the congregation what it is. "Star," the children replied.One boy shouted in Tagalog, "A star without luster" — the title of a popular Filipino song that was adapted into a movie. Everybody laughed, including Cardinal Tagle who quipped "A shining star." He explained to the child that the "parol" symbolizes the star that guide...
"Where else can we find God's light today?" asked Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, on January 3, during his first Sunday Mass of the year with Manila's urban poor in the slums of Tondo district.
In his homily for the Feast of the Three Kings, Cardinal Tagle likened parents to the Star of Bethlehem, "the shining light of children." As guiding stars, parents should make sure their children tread the right path, to help them fulfill their dreams, and raise them as good Christians, the prelate said.
Cardinal Tagle pointed to a "parol," a Filipino traditional Christmas lantern, and asked the congregation what it is. "Star," the children replied.
One boy shouted in Tagalog, "A star without luster" — the title of a popular Filipino song that was adapted into a movie. Everybody laughed, including Cardinal Tagle who quipped "A shining star." He explained to the child that the "parol" symbolizes the star that guided the three kings to the birthplace of Jesus. "It's also the star that symbolizes hope," he said.
Many Filipinos believe stardom is a way out of poverty, with many celebrities coming from humble beginnings. In a celebrity-crazy country, the many narratives of rags-to-riches stories have spawned millions of hopes of making it big in the entertainment industry.
When the Mass ended, Cardinal Tagle again walked through the same muddy path, but with a bunch of children in tow.
Perhaps awed by the popularity of the prelate, one of the children asked, "Are you a star?" "I'm not a star. I'm just a priest," Cardinal Tagle replied.
"As you can see, amidst their poverty, they know how to celebrate life. Here, hope is very much alive," the prelate told ucanews.com after celebrating Mass with residents of Helping Land, an urban poor hamlet.
Cardinal Tagle described the aspirations of the poor as the "proverbial light in the dark, of dreams that don't die." "That is epiphany in action," he said. The hamlet of Helping Land, along with Happy Land and Aroma, was once a relocation site for Manila's poor until it became a dump.
The cardinal walked through the alleys of Helping Land in his black rain boots. The stench of the garbage permeates the air in the densely populated neighborhood. The muddy earth smells of filth. (UCAN)
IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano, handout via EPABy Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis made a surprise visitto the place where his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, created the world's firstNativity scene."He wanted to visit the sanctuary and places where St.Francis, on Christmas Eve in 1223, represented the first living Nativity inhistory," Bishop Domenico Pompili of Rieti told ANSA, the Italian newsagency.The pope had nothing listed on his official schedule, andso he used the free day to visit the Franciscan shrine in Greccio, a town 60miles northeast of Rome and 56 miles south of Assisi.The bishop said he and the shrine's prior were the only peopleinformed a few days ahead of time of the pope's plans to make the Jan. 4 visit.As the pope arrived in a blue Ford Focus accompanied bytwo plainclothes security guards, the shrine's guardian said he was caughtcompletely off guard. "I didn't even have my habit on and I quickly wentto the refectory to put it on. Then I open...
IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano, handout via EPA
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis made a surprise visit to the place where his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, created the world's first Nativity scene.
"He wanted to visit the sanctuary and places where St. Francis, on Christmas Eve in 1223, represented the first living Nativity in history," Bishop Domenico Pompili of Rieti told ANSA, the Italian news agency.
The pope had nothing listed on his official schedule, and so he used the free day to visit the Franciscan shrine in Greccio, a town 60 miles northeast of Rome and 56 miles south of Assisi.
The bishop said he and the shrine's prior were the only people informed a few days ahead of time of the pope's plans to make the Jan. 4 visit.
As the pope arrived in a blue Ford Focus accompanied by two plainclothes security guards, the shrine's guardian said he was caught completely off guard. "I didn't even have my habit on and I quickly went to the refectory to put it on. Then I opened the gate for the pope," Franciscan Father Alfredo Silvestri told the Italian bishops' TV2000.
The pope also made an unannounced stop at a local youth meeting organized by the diocese. Amid loud cheers and chants of "Francesco," some participants were moved to tears.
The pope told the some 150 young people that their bishop had told him it would be a good idea to pray at Greccio during the Christmas season. "So I came to pray. But I won't say what white lie he used to lure me here," the pope joked.
In impromptu remarks, the pope told them to reflect on two important signs associated with Christ's birth: the star of Bethlehem and the baby in a manger.
"The sky is full of stars, isn't it? But there is one that is special," the star that inspired the Three Wise Men to leave everything behind and begin a journey into the unknown, he said.
The pope asked the young people to be on the lookout in their own lives for a "special star that calls us to do something greater, to strike out on a journey, to make a decision."
"We have to ask for this grace of discovering 'the star' that God today wants to show me because that star will lead me to Jesus," he said.
The second sign, which the angels tell the shepherds about, is a baby born in a manger, he said.
This shows, the pope said, how "God lowered himself, obliterated himself to be like us, to walk before us, but with smallness, that is, you can say, humility, which goes against pride, self-importance, arrogance."
The pope asked them to think about whether their own lives were "meek, humble, (one) that doesn't turn up its nose, that isn't full of pride."
The Three Wise Men were very smart "because they let themselves be led by the star. All the splendor of Herod's huge palace" did not fool them because they were able to sense right away that the promised king they were looking for was not there, the pope said.
He told the young people he hoped their lives would always be guided by these two signs -- two gifts from God. He asked they always have that star that will guide them and "the humility to rediscover Jesus in the little ones, the humble, the poor, in those who are a cast off by society and from our own life."
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LAS VEGAS (AP) -- For years, TV makers have focused on making pictures sharper by squeezing more pixels onto screens. Now, their attention is shifting to improving the way sets display color, with a newish technology called HDR taking center stage....
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- El Nino storms lined up in the Pacific, promising to drench parts of the West for more than two weeks and increasing fears of mudslides and flash floods in regions stripped bare by wildfires....
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- A man armed with a knife held 11 children and his girlfriend inside a motel room for five hours before he stabbed himself in the neck Tuesday morning, ending a standoff with police, authorities said....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- There were more airline deaths worldwide due to deliberate acts in 2015 than to accidental air crashes for the second year in a row, according to an industry tally....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One U.S. troop was killed and two wounded in fighting Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military command in Kabul said....
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The latest developments after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Tehran amid a dispute over Riyadh's execution of an opposition Shiite cleric and attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran. (All times local.)...
