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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held a private audience on Thursday with Mr. Michel Aoun, President of the Republic of Lebanon, and his wife, Nadia.A communique from the Holy See Press Office said their discussions were "cordial"."The Parties focused on the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Lebanon, underlining the historic and institutional role of the Church in the life of the country. Satisfaction was then expressed for the efforts on the part of all the various political parties in putting an end to the presidential vacancy, emphasising the hope for an increasingly fruitful future collaboration between the members of diverse ethnic and religious communities in favour of the common good and the development of the nation," the communique read.Turning to current events on the international stage, the Pope thanked President Aoun for his country's welcome of Syrian refugees."The discussion then turned to Syria, with special attention ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’s scheduled visit to the northern Italian town of Carpi on 2 April will include a meeting with communities struck by the 2012 earthquake and a visit to the badly damaged Cathedral of Mirandola.A communiqué released by the Holy See Press Office provides details of the Pope’s 1-day journey to Carpi, a town counting some 70,000 inhabitants in the Modena area of the Emilia Romagna region.Over 20 people were killed and dozens of farms, castles, churches and other buildings were destroyed or damaged in the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the region in May 2012. The Holy Father is scheduled to celebrate Mass, pray the Angelus, give his blessing to three new diocesan buildings, talk to priests and religious, and visit sites of the earthquake such as the Duomo di Mirandola. Pope Francis, who will be travelling by helicopter, will depart from the Vatican at 8.15 am and arrive in Carpi at 9.45am at the “Dorando Pietri...
(Vatican Radio) The parable of the poor man, Lazarus, lying at the rich man’s door, was at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily at the Santa Marta Mass on Thursday morning. The Pope warned of the risks we run if we have the same uncaring attitude towards the poor and homeless people we see around us today.Listen to Philippa Hitchen's report: Reflecting on the Gospel story of Lazarus, from St Luke’s Gospel, Pope Francis warned against those who place their trust in things of the flesh. Trusting in vanity, pride and riches, he said, will distance us from the Lord. He highlighted the fruitfulness of those who trust in the Lord and the sterility of those who rely only on themselves and the things they can control.Wealth can harden our heartsWhen people live in a closed environment, surrounded by wealth and vanity and trusting in their own devices, the Pope said, those people lose their sense of direction and have no idea of their limitations. Exactly as ...
(Vatican Radio) Environmental activists have hailed the Bangladesh Supreme Court for ordering Dhaka's billion-dollar tannery industry to move out of the capital city.On Sunday, the three-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha ordered the shutting down of 155 tanneries in Dhaka, and dismissed the petition challenging the court's decision, filed by Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association for a stay on an earlier High Court order.The court ordered the tanneries to shut operations by March 31 and asked ministries of industries and environment as well police to ensure implementation of the order by cutting water, gas and electricity supplies by the deadline. The court's verdict came following a petition by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA).Bangladesh's tannery industry, centered in the Hazaribagh neighborhood next the Buriganga River, consists of 155 factories and employ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will preside over a penitential service at the Vatican in anticipation of the ’24 Hours for the Lord’ initiative.The service will take place on Friday 17th March, one week before all churches around the world are asked to offer the sacrament of Confession, a request made by the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of the New Evangelization.The theme of the initiative this year comes from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: ‘I desire Mercy’ (Mt 9:13).On Friday 24th March, the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere and Le Stimmate di San Francesco will remain open from 8pm for Confession and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. On Saturday 25th March, a service of thanksgiving will take place at 5pm in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia. Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of the New Evangelization, will preside over First Vespers of the Fourth Sunday of Lent.People ...
(Vatican Radio) Bishops in Scotland have condemned the comments of a Member of Parliament as “chillingly intolerant” after it emerged recently that he would work with humanists to put an end to Catholic education in the country.Tommy Sheppard is a senior member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and an MP for the capital city of Edinburgh. He is also a member of the Humanist Society Scotland (HSS), and was recorded while speaking at an HSS event during last year’s SNP conference.The event was promoting the HSS ‘Enlighten Up’ campaign, which seeks to put a stop to mandatory religious representation on local authority committees. Speaking about a secular school system in Scotland, Sheppard said, “Some of the things in the Enlighten Up campaign are, I believe, exactly the way to do that.” He added, “Chip away at the power organized religion has within our school system.”A spokesperson for the Bishops’ Conference of Scotlan...
Phoenix, Ariz., Mar 16, 2017 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic school can be a missionary force to bring Christ to the world, the Bishop of Phoenix has said in a new apostolic letter.“A mark of a truly Catholic school is the fruit that is borne in the lives of its graduates,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix said. “That fruit is to be shown in the missionary activity of its graduates, called and sent by Jesus to be salt and light in the culture around them, knowing that people and cultures die without Christ.”The bishop’s apostolic letter “Evangelizing through Catholic Schools” was dated March 3, the feast day of the Catholic educator St. Katharine Drexel.His letter said Catholic schools should be “a place of encounter with Jesus Christ” that can impart a Catholic worldview through the curriculum, help students achieve true freedom, and send them out as “missionary disciples to transform the culture.”Many C...
Vatican City, Mar 16, 2017 / 09:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Thursday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has chosen Fr. Steven Biegler, a native of Rapid City, South Dakota, as the next bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne, WY.A March 16 message posed on the Rapid City diocese’s website wished Fr. Biegler well in his new role on behalf of Bishop Robert Gruss, the clergy, religious and people of the diocese, saying, “we pray that God will continue to richly bless you with wisdom, vitality and the love of Christ and his people.”Fr. Biegler, 58, has been a priest of the Diocese of Rapid City since his ordination July 9, 1993. Most recently, he has held the position as Vicar General of the diocese since 2011 and Rector of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help since 2016.The Diocese of Cheyenne encompasses the entirety of the state of Wyoming and has a total population of 584,153 people, of whom 55,336 are Catholic.The official See of the Cheyenne diocese has been...
IMAGE: CNS illustration/courtesy BaylorBy Dennis SadowskiWASHINGTON(CNS) -- Amir Hussain wants Americans to know that Muslims have always been apart of the history of the United States, starting long before the country gained itsindependence from Great Britain."There'snever been an America without Muslims," said Hussain, quoting from thefirst line of his book "Muslims and the Making of America" during a programat the National Press Club March 14.Atleast 10 percent of the slaves kidnapped in West Africa and brought to the U.S.beginning in the 17th century were Muslim, explained Hussain, professor oftheological studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles."Muslimshave been a part of the history of this country since before this country wasthis country," Hussain told the audience. Born in Pakistan, he emigrated with hisparents to go to Canada and he later became a U.S. citizen.As anexample, Hussain's book briefly recounts the story of a Muslim, Estevanico the Moor, in what no...
By Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians who trust in themselves rather than Godeventually become unsympathetic to those in need and slide down the slipperypath of corruption, Pope Francis said. People who place their trust in their own vanity, pride and riches lose theirsense of direction and "distance themselves from God," the pope saidMarch 16 during his early morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus SanctaeMarthae."When a person lives in his own closed environment,when he breathes that air that comes from material goods, from pleasures, from vanity,from feeling safe and only trusting in himself," the pope said, "heloses his bearings, he loses the compass and doesn't know his own limits."PopeFrancis reflected on the day's first reading from the prophet Jeremiahin which God warns: "Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, whoseeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord."To trust in one's own heart, the pope said, is a"slippery path" because...
