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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has paid tribute to Polish military veterans who fought in the 1944 Battle of Montecassino.Former soldiers from the Polish army’s Second Corps who are in Rome for the anniversary of the Second World War battle were greeted by the Pope at the Wednesday General Audience.Pope Francis praised the veterans who “fought for the freedom of your country and for other nations.” He said their efforts and the “sacrifice of life” of their companions had helped bring peace to Europe and the whole world.The Battle of Montecassino involved four allied assaults of German defence posts over a four month period, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties on both sides.(Richard Paul Marsden)
Christian leaders from the Guild of Papuan Churches have rallied against growing radicalism in Indonesia which they claim has penetrated the Christian-majority region. Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar of Jayapura led church leaders and more than 1,000 Christians in a peaceful protest on May 15. There must be a concerted effort to free Papua from radical groups, the Franciscan bishop said. "The presence of radical groups [in the province] has the potential to create conflict," he told AsiaNews, urging the government to disband groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.Papua has no record of sectarian violence but the presence of Hizbut Tahrir in the province has raised fears of conflict between Muslims, Christians and other religious groups. The central government is working to disband Hizbut Tahrir because it aims to establish an Islamic caliphate which is against Indonesia’s secular ideology.Bishop Ladjar aloso expressed the wo...
Some 3,000 Catholics of a remote village parish in eastern India’s Odisha state came together on Saturday to celebrate the centenary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima and to mark the opening of a centre of the Missionaries of Charity (MC) order of Mother Teresa in their parish. Catholics in Salimaguchha parish in Ganjam District and nearby areas joined some 10 priests and 20 religious nuns for the May 13 Mass and celebrations, presided over by local Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar. The Divine Word prelate also blessed and opened the new MC house, offering it as “a gift to the poor, needy, marginalized and underprivileged” in the parish.Saturday’s celebrations coincided with the worldwide celebrations of the 100 years of the first apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, to three shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Pope Francis himself led the celebrat...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The commission that now-retired PopeBenedict XVI established to study the alleged apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje,Bosnia-Herzegovina, reportedly voted overwhelmingly to recognize assupernatural the first seven appearances of Mary in 1981.However, according to a report published by the websiteVatican Insider, the commission was much more doubtful about the thousands of alleged visions that have occurred since July 4, 1981, and supposedly continue to this day.Two of the 17 commission members and consultants thought thealleged visions after the periodof June 24-July 3, 1981,were not supernatural, while the other members said it was not possible to makea judgment.The commission said it was clear that the six allegedvisionaries and a seventh who claims to have begun receiving messages from Maryin December 1982 were not given adequate spiritual support.Vatican Insider published its piece on the report May 16,three days after Po...
BOSTON (AP) -- Tom Brady played through a concussion last year on his way to a fifth Super Bowl title, according to his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen. The injury, which was not reported by the team, left her worried about how long he should continue to play football....
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) -- The trapeze-artist wife of daredevil Nik Wallenda is planning her own stunt high above Niagara Falls....
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- An elephant stretches its trunk through a window to soothe a sick child. A woman gives birth and three months later is back performing on the high wire. A handler of big cats weeps as the beasts lope out of the ring for the last time....
ELK CITY, Okla. (AP) -- Storms whipped through a wide swath of the nation's midsection, giving rise to tornadoes that flattened a Wisconsin mobile home park and an Oklahoma subdivision and killing at least two people and injuring dozens of others....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Wednesday he's "fine" after collapsing during a Washington, D.C., race and being taken away by ambulance....
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the soldier who was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for giving classified materials to WikiLeaks, said Wednesday that she's excited about what lies ahead, just hours after she walked free after serving seven years behind bars....
