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Adding an unusual flavor to his pastoral ministry, a Catholic archbishop in the Philippines went undercover to personally find out how parishes under his jurisdiction deal with the poor. Weeks before assuming his post as the new head of Lipa, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera disguised himself as a farmer and visited parish offices. The archbishop went to great lengths to make sure he wasn't recognized, even wearing dirty and ragged clothes. "I wanted to know how [parish] secretaries are dealing with the poor," said the prelate. "I went into their offices and I know what is happening there," he said. The 58-year old archbishop said he was satisfied by what he saw, but added that some offices continue to face challenges in serving people. To address issues in his archdiocese, Archbishop Garcera is conducting a survey "to better understand and meet the spiritual needs" of people, especially the youth. He said the study wi...
As Nepal painfully plods its way to becoming a prosperous secular democracy, the tiny Catholic Church in the impoverished Himalayan state pledges its contribution to social services and education in order to build peace, stability, freedom and human rights. Fr. G. William Robins, a Japanese-Canadian Jesuit who has spent about 45 years in south Asia, made the remark to the Vatican’s Fides news agency after the largely Hindu nation voted on 14 May for representatives in municipal and village councils. This first local election in two decades is a key step to building democracy ten years after the end of the civil war and two years after the approval of the Constitution in 2015. The local vote was divided into two phases due to disorders in the southern plains bordering India, where the major ethnic minority group (which accounts for more than half of the 28.6 million inhabitants) refuses to participate in the elections until an amendment to the constitution is appro...
CUAMM ‘-Doctors with Africa,’ an Italian non-governmental organisation has expressed satisfaction with the election of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as new World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General."On the eve of Africa Day, (25 May)” declared Fr. Dante Carraro the Director of CUAMM, "this appointment strongly highlights the centrality of Africa when it comes to the health of the world," he said.On Tuesday this week, member states of WHO elected Ethiopian national Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as its new Director-General.According to WHO, before his election, Dr Ghebreyesus served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and later as Minister of Health. He was also chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and chair of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board.During his tenure as health minister, Dr Ghebreyesus is credited with leading a comprehensive and successful reform of Ethiopia’s h...
Representatives from Myanmar's ethic rebel groups and the government gathered in the capital on 24 May for peace talks aimed at ending decades of ethnic rebellions in the country. Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, faces high expectations from ethnic groups and the international community to end conflicts between ethnic armed groups and the army that have lasted for nearly seven decades. Delegates filled a conference hall in Naypyitaw for the start of the five-day talks, which come nine months after a first round of talks was held.Suu Kyi said that her government would not pressure the ethnic groups into a peace deal, and would allow for open negotiations. ``We will not resort to exerting pressure through populist politics to achieve our goals, but we will instead strive to reach an agreement acceptable to all with open, frank and inclusive dialogue,'' she said during her opening speech.Despite overtures made by Suu Kyi, ongoing clashes betwee...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has told pilgrims that God walks with us always, “even in the most painful moments” of our lives as he did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Pope Francis continued his series of reflections on Christian hope at his Wednesday General Audience shortly after his meeting with US president Donald Trump. The Pope spoke about the disciples’ meeting with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus, in Luke’s Gospel, as “a journey of hope”. He told pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square that Christians today are a bit like those two disciples: so often we find ourselves “a step away from happiness” but then experience sadness and disappointment.The Pope said Jesus’ accompaniment of the two disciples shows a “therapy of hope” which “gradually opens us to trust in God’s promises”. Hope, the Pope said, is “never a small price” to pay and always involves defeats ...
St. Louis, Mo., May 24, 2017 / 06:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A St. Louis city ordinance that could force Catholic schools and pro-life pregnancy centers to hire employees who support abortion has drawn legal opposition from the Archbishop of St. Louis and several pro-life organizations.“As Catholics, we know that all life is a gift from God and our parents, and must be protected at any cost,” St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson said May 22. “Sadly, legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed by the Supreme Court in 1973.”“Now, some of our St. Louis politicians have made a protected 'class' out of 'reproductive health,' which is merely a politically correct euphemism for abortion,” the archbishop said at a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis.He said the archdiocese will not comply with the “vile bill.”Archbishop Carlson was j...
Vatican City, May 24, 2017 / 08:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said that no matter what trials we might face, we have hope because Jesus is always by our side, just like he was for the disciples on the road to Emmaus.“All of us, in our lives, have had difficult, dark times; moments in which we have walked sad, thoughtful, without horizons and (with) only a wall in front,” Pope Francis said May 24.However, even in these moments “Jesus is always beside us to give us hope, warm the heart and say, ‘Go ahead, I'm with you. Go ahead,’” the Pope said, adding that “the secret of the road leading to Emmaus is all here: even through unfavorable appearances, we continue to be loved.”The Pope met with thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience, immediately following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.Francis said that no matter what, God always wants the best for us and &ldquo...
IMAGE: CNS/Alessandro Bianchi, ReutersBy Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If it seems hard to find God inthis world, it is because he chooses to be with the defeated and dejected and inplaces where most people are loath to go, Pope Francis said."God does not like to be loved the way a warlordwould like, dragging his people to victory, debasing them in the blood of hisenemies," the pope said May 24 at his weekly general audience in St.Peter's Square.The audience began just after Pope Francis had met U.S.President Donald Trump. "Our God is a dim flame that burns on a cold andwindy day, and, for as fragile as his presence seems in this world, he haschosen the place everyone disdains," Pope Francis told the crowd in thesquare.Continuing his series of talks on Christian hope, thepope looked at the Gospel of Luke's account of the two disciples traveling onthe road to Emmaus after Jesus had been crucified and buried.In the story, the pope said, the disciples, arestruggling to understand h...
NEW YORK (AP) -- HBO is scrapping a web-delivered satirical project it was developing with Jon Stewart, a change of plans that keeps the popular political humorist on the sidelines as the Trump administration continues to provide his fellow comedians with comic gold....
GAUHATI, India (AP) -- Indian veterinarians are treating a 10-year-old wild elephant with an injured leg to help it escape from a marshy area where it has been stuck for at least five days....
