Catholic News 2
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranians head to the polls Friday to vote in the Islamic Republic's presidential election. The contest is largely seen as a referendum on the incumbent president's more moderate political stance, which helped pave the way for the country's nuclear deal with world powers....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iranians vote Friday for the next president of the Islamic Republic, but how does that elected leader fit into the country's clerically managed government that approves candidates ultimately overseen by its supreme leader?...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Mike Pence has tiptoed gingerly through the chaos engulfing the White House - offering loyalty to his boss, while trying to avoid the spreading stain of scandal....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is looking ahead toward a decisive battleground in its bid to destroy the Islamic State group, even as U.S.-backed local forces must still finish the fight for the extremists' two main strongholds in Iraq and Syria....
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranians voted Friday in the country's first presidential election since its nuclear deal with world powers, as incumbent Hassan Rouhani faced a staunch challenge from a hard-line opponent over his outreach to the West....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- First she's in the hands of her father, then she moves to her husband. Often, she ends up under the power of her son....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If President Donald Trump was hoping to head out on his first big foreign trip with turmoil calmed at home, he's going to have a disappointing Air Force One departure on Friday....
Madrid, Spain, May 18, 2017 / 10:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Over the past nine years, Spain has been hit particularly hard by the worldwide economic crisis.It was in recession from 2008-2009 and 2011-2013, and unemployment in the country is at about 19 percent, with unemployment rates twice as high for people under the age of 25, forcing younger generations to leave the country to find work.Unfinished apartment complexes and houses stand out in the sun, sustaining years of wear and tear, a reminder of the burst property bubble at the center of the crisis.Spaniards are cutting back on expenses everywhere, including opting for smaller, civil wedding ceremonies and celebrations rather than large church weddings, which are down 50 percent since the crisis began.But there is one thing for which Spaniards are still willing to splurge: First Communion parties.In a recent episode, economic podcast Marketplace explored the phenomenon of the lavish parties celebrating youngsters' First Holy ...
Madrid, Spain, May 18, 2017 / 10:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Over the past nine years, Spain has been hit particularly hard by the worldwide economic crisis.
It was in recession from 2008-2009 and 2011-2013, and unemployment in the country is at about 19 percent, with unemployment rates twice as high for people under the age of 25, forcing younger generations to leave the country to find work.
Unfinished apartment complexes and houses stand out in the sun, sustaining years of wear and tear, a reminder of the burst property bubble at the center of the crisis.
Spaniards are cutting back on expenses everywhere, including opting for smaller, civil wedding ceremonies and celebrations rather than large church weddings, which are down 50 percent since the crisis began.
But there is one thing for which Spaniards are still willing to splurge: First Communion parties.
In a recent episode, economic podcast Marketplace explored the phenomenon of the lavish parties celebrating youngsters' First Holy Communions, which have not declined in extravagance despite the hard times in the majority-Catholic country.
According to a 2014 study reported on by Marketplace, First Communion parties are a multimillion dollar business, with families spending almost 600 million euros (or about $640 million dollars) on these celebrations that year. Many individual families end up spending several thousand dollars on a First Communion party.
Parties include fancy, wedding-like dresses for girls, cake, food, photoshoots, and entertainment. Sometimes families will even borrow money or take out a loan in order to “have the communion that God demands,” Francesc Nuñez, sociologist at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, told Marketplace.
It’s a distinctly religious phenomenon too, he noted, as there is no secular “proxy” for a First Communion party, as there are for events like wedding ceremonies. Despite waning numbers of active churchgoers, approximately 70 percent of Spaniards still self-identify as Catholic.
May is “First Communion season” for many countries in the Church, including Spain, where restaurant owners and other related businesses can expect an uptick in revenue around that time.
Infanta Sofía of Spain, 10, who is currently second in the line of succession to the nation's throne, received her first Communion this week at Asunción de Nuestra Señora parish in Madrid.
NEW YORK (AP) -- On the surface, the Fox News Channel Roger Ailes left behind would seem to be thriving. Profits are strong, and it has spent much of 2017 as the most-watched network in all of cable television, not just cable news....
NEW YORK (AP) -- A 1982 artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold for a record $110.5 million at Sotheby's auction of contemporary art Thursday night....
