Catholic News 2
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- President Donald Trump arrived in the Middle East on Saturday, touching down in Saudi Arabia to begin his first trip abroad, a visit aimed at forging stronger alliances to combat terrorism while seeking to push past the series of controversies threatening to engulf his young administration....
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- They were among the city's oldest landmarks, as cemented to the landscape of New Orleans as the Superdome and St. Louis Cathedral: a stone obelisk heralding white supremacy and three statues of Confederate stalwarts....
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's incumbent President Hassan Rouhani had a commanding 59 percent lead over his rivals in an initial and partial count of votes in the election, according to official figures announced Saturday morning....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump told Russian diplomats last week his firing of "nut job" James Comey had eased the pressure on him, even as the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation had moved into the White House, according to reports Friday that pursued the president as he began his maiden foreign trip....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump will use his first visit to the Middle East to call for unity in the fight against radicalism in the Muslim world, casting the challenge as a "battle between good and evil" and urging Arab leaders to "drive out the terrorists from your places of worship," according to a draft of the speech obtained by The Associated Press....
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- President Donald Trump opened his first trip abroad since taking office, touching down Saturday in Saudi Arabia for a visit aimed at building stronger partnerships to combat terrorism in the region and moving past the controversies engulfing his young administration....
Vatican City, May 19, 2017 / 06:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will deliver his fifth speech on the present and future of Europe during an event organized by the Commission of the European Bishops’ Conferences of the European community (COMECE).The event, titled “Rethinking Europe,” has been organized by COMECE in collaboration with the Holy See, and will take place in Rome Oct. 27-29 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, which laid the foundation for the European Union.Pope Francis was invited to the event during a private meeting he had with the COMECE standing committee on May 16. The meeting took place in the afternoon in Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lives.The COMECE delegation is composed of president Cardinal Reinhard Marx and the four vice-presidents, bishops Jean Kockerols, Gianni Ambrosio, Czeslaw Kozon, Rimantas Normila. COMECE general secretary, Fr. Olivier Poquillon also attended the meeting.The group also had me...
Vatican City, May 19, 2017 / 06:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will deliver his fifth speech on the present and future of Europe during an event organized by the Commission of the European Bishops’ Conferences of the European community (COMECE).
The event, titled “Rethinking Europe,” has been organized by COMECE in collaboration with the Holy See, and will take place in Rome Oct. 27-29 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, which laid the foundation for the European Union.
Pope Francis was invited to the event during a private meeting he had with the COMECE standing committee on May 16. The meeting took place in the afternoon in Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lives.
The COMECE delegation is composed of president Cardinal Reinhard Marx and the four vice-presidents, bishops Jean Kockerols, Gianni Ambrosio, Czeslaw Kozon, Rimantas Normila. COMECE general secretary, Fr. Olivier Poquillon also attended the meeting.
The group also had meetings with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, and with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Cardinal Marx stressed in a press release that the “Rethinking Europe forum will be the start of a process of dialogue between the Churches representatives (both bishops and lay people) and the politicians who have political responsibility and make decisions.”
After the encounter with COMECE’s standing committee, Pope Francis met on May 18 with the new presidency of the Council of the European Bishops’ Conferences, known by the acronym CCEE.
While the COMECE is composed by bishops delegated by their Bishops’ Conferences to deal with institutions associated to the European Union, the CCEE is composed by the presidents of the Bishops Conferences in Europe, and deals with the pastoral challenges of each of the European countries represented.
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, current president of the Italian Bishops Conference, was elected President of the CCEE.
The Italian cardinal explained in a press conference that the topics discussed with Pope Francis included secularization, migration, youth and human trafficking.
When the conversation turned to the challenges of young people, “the Pope warned us about the demographic winter. He particularly recommended us to care for young people”.
Cardinal Bagnasco also underscored that “Pope Francis expressed gratitude and admiration for the work done by the Churches in Europe in order to tackle the migration issues.”
Philadelphia, Pa., May 19, 2017 / 07:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid plans for the future of the Philadelphia archdiocese’s historic Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, the seminary and Neumann University have announced a feasibility study into a possible affiliation agreement.“While this agreement does not presuppose that the seminary will definitely affiliate with Neumann, it does allow both institutions’ academic leaders and others to meet openly and to discuss how such an affiliation agreement may work to benefit both institutions,” said the May 18 announcement signed by Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Senior of Philadelphia, the seminary’s rector, and university president Rosalie M. Mirenda.The seminary’s board of trustees in May 2016 recommended that Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia explore the possibility of affiliating the seminary with a local Catholic college or university.The agreement between the seminary and Neumann University followed &l...
Philadelphia, Pa., May 19, 2017 / 07:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid plans for the future of the Philadelphia archdiocese’s historic Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, the seminary and Neumann University have announced a feasibility study into a possible affiliation agreement.
“While this agreement does not presuppose that the seminary will definitely affiliate with Neumann, it does allow both institutions’ academic leaders and others to meet openly and to discuss how such an affiliation agreement may work to benefit both institutions,” said the May 18 announcement signed by Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Senior of Philadelphia, the seminary’s rector, and university president Rosalie M. Mirenda.
The seminary’s board of trustees in May 2016 recommended that Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia explore the possibility of affiliating the seminary with a local Catholic college or university.
The agreement between the seminary and Neumann University followed “an exhaustive and thorough process,” the announcement said.
Neumann University, located in Aston, Penn., about 20 miles outside of Philadelphia, is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. It has about 3,000 students enrolled total, 2,000 of whom are full-time undergraduate students. It is named for St. John Neumann, who served as Bishop of Philadelphia in the 1850s.
The seminary has been exploring whether to affiliate with a university and move its campus to new buildings on or nearby a partner institution’s campus.
In June 2016, Bishop Senior told CatholicPhilly.com that a plan to remain at the seminary’s present site would require $50 million in renovations to its upper campus. The seminary features massive three-story stone structures that date back 100 to 145 years. Its maintenance costs alone are $500,000 per year and still fall short of needs, he said.
“Is it really the best thing to put all that money into those buildings?” the bishop asked.
The seminary enrollment was at 128 in 2013, including seminarians from other dioceses and from religious orders, and increased to 142 in 2014.
Enrollment increased 20 percent in 2015 and 13 percent in 2016, with 160 students enrolling in fall 2016.
Pope Francis stayed at the seminary during his 2015 visit to the United States.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Many Brazilians are already looking ahead to the likelihood of a new government after two days of corruption allegations battered President Michel Temer and produced a stream of calls for him to quit despite his defiant vow to stay in office....
SYDNEY (AP) -- She has riveted Australia for more than a decade, the everyday Aussie beach girl who somehow sparked diplomatic rows, furious protests and a media bonanza on par with America's O.J. Simpson trial. She is so notorious Down Under that she needs no last name: She's just Schapelle....
