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BALTIMORE (AP) -- A U.S. Supreme Court decision triggering new sentences for inmates serving mandatory life without parole for crimes committed as juveniles has had a far greater effect: The ruling is prompting lawyers to apply its fundamental logic - that it's cruel and unusual to lock teens up for life - to a larger population, those whose sentences include a parole provision but who stand little chance of getting out....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Aides to President Donald Trump were in deep talks about how to defuse tensions between Qatar and other Arab nations when the door to the secure room at the White House burst open....
JERUSALEM (AP) -- It had all the ingredients of a political brawl: a Jordanian and an Israeli lawmaker, both known for attention-seeking bluster, challenged each other to a showdown Wednesday on the border between their two countries....
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bombing attack on a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday left two American service members dead, a Pentagon spokesman said, despite repeated refusals by the U.S. military in Afghanistan to say whether there were any deaths in the assault claimed by the Taliban....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Altering human heredity? In a first, researchers safely repaired a disease-causing gene in human embryos, targeting a heart defect best known for killing young athletes - a big step toward one day preventing a list of inherited diseases....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met briefly with the managers and players of the German “Borussia Mönchengladbach” soccer team on Wednesday, inviting them to be “athletes for peace”.The Holy Father met with them ahead of his weekly General Audience.He thanked the team for the “friendly relations” built up through the years between the team and the Vatican Employees’ Athletic Association. The teams sometimes face off on the field in Rome and in Mönchengladbach.The Pope said the club “distinguishes itself by being a team ‘at the human level’, in a manner of speaking, and a team which promotes the family.”Pope Francis said he enjoyed seeing “how families live in your Borussia Park and how many athletic and educative initiatives are held to promote young people, in particular the less fortunate,” he said.Finally, the Pope invited those sportsmen present to “be athletes for good and for pea...
(Vatican Radio) The 7th Asian Youth Day (AYD7) kicked off with a colourful concelebrated Mass Wednesday evening in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in a colourful and festive show of unity around Christ and his Gospel amidst the continent's diverse cultures and peoples.After four days of the preliminary ‘Days in the Dioceses’ (DID) live-in programme in 11 Indonesian dioceses, July 30- August 2, the over 2000 young Catholics from 21 countries converged in Yogyakarta, the cultural and intellectual heartland of Indonesia. The 7th Asian Youth Day on the theme “Joyful Asian Youth! Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia,” will conclude on Aug. 6. Youth participants had begun pouring in at Yogyakarta’s government facility, Jogja Expo Centre (JEC), since early morning, August 2. After lunch the various national contingents began celebrating with songs and performances and shared their DID experien...
Vatican City, Aug 2, 2017 / 09:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After hosting a discussion earlier this summer, the Vatican office for justice has outlined several goals and action points in their plan to fight corruption, which will be a central focus for the upcoming year.On June 15 the International Consultation Group for justice, corruption, organized crime and mafias, part of the Vatican dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, organized an “International Debate on Corruption.”The event, hosted in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, drew some 50 participants from all over the world, including anti-mafia and anti-corruption magistrates, bishops, Vatican officials, representatives from the U.N. and various States, heads of movements, victims and ambassadors.As a result of that meeting, the consultation group has issued a joint text July 31 highlighting their priorities and providing 21 goals and actions points they hope to accomplish in th...
Vatican City, Aug 2, 2017 / 09:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Wednesday there was a special surprise at the end of Pope Francis' general audience – a performance by acclaimed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and a choir of 60 children from the poorest areas of Haiti.The choir, called “Voices of Haiti,” sang three songs with Bocelli, including 'Amazing Grace' and 'Ave Maria,' following the general audience in the Vatican's Pope Paul VI hall Aug. 2. After the performance the children and world-renowned singer were greeted by Pope Francis.The performance was part of a nearly two-week-long European tour of the children’s choir, made up of youth ages 9-15, coming from some of the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince Haiti. Besides Rome, the tour included stops in Pisa, Florence and Lajatico, Italy, Bocelli’s birthplace.In Lajatico they will perform with Bocelli in front of 15,000 people for the 12thh edition of his annual concert at the famous Teatro...
By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The ancient practice of orientingchurch buildings East to West -- with the entrance facing West and the altartoward the East -- was symbolic of the connection that exists between light andhope, Pope Francis said."What does it mean to be a Christian? It means lookingtoward the light, continuing to make a profession of faith in the light, evenwhen the world is wrapped in the night and darkness," Pope Francis saidAug. 2 at his weekly general audience.With temperatures moving toward a forecasted 100 degrees,the pope resumed his audiences indoors after a month's hiatus. He also resumedhis series of audience talks about Christian hope.He began by explaining how in ancient times the physicalsetting of a church building held symbolic importance for believers because thesun sets in the West, "where the light dies," but rises in the East,where "the dawn reminds us of Christ, the sun risen from on high."In fact, he said, using the "language of thecosmos," ...
