(Vatican Radio) Thousands of Russians have marched through Moscow to mark two years since opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down outside the Kremlin. Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister, was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Listen to Stefan Bos' report Shouting slogans including "Russia will be free!" and "Putin is war!" thousands of Russians braved winter weather to commemorate a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin here in Moscow as well as in St Petersburg and other Russian cities.Exactly two years ago, on February 27, 2015, Boris Nemtsov was shot in the back as he walked home from a restaurant with his Ukrainian girlfriend late at night near the Kremlin. Many people also went to lay flowers on the site on the central Moscow bridge where Nemtsov was killed.Nemtsov, who was 55, called for "honest elections" and urged people to join a protest hours before he was murdered. "We think t...
(Vatican Radio) Thousands of Russians have marched through Moscow to mark two years since opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down outside the Kremlin. Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister, was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report
Shouting slogans including "Russia will be free!" and "Putin is war!" thousands of Russians braved winter weather to commemorate a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin here in Moscow as well as in St Petersburg and other Russian cities.
Exactly two years ago, on February 27, 2015, Boris Nemtsov was shot in the back as he walked home from a restaurant with his Ukrainian girlfriend late at night near the Kremlin. Many people also went to lay flowers on the site on the central Moscow bridge where Nemtsov was killed.
Nemtsov, who was 55, called for "honest elections" and urged people to join a protest hours before he was murdered. "We think that in order to bring the country to order and overcome crisis important political reforms are needed," he told
Ekho Moskvy radio.
"It is necessary to carry out honest elections with the participation of the opposition," he added.
'ILLEGAL WAR'
Nemtsov also said that Russia's president launched an illegal war with Ukraine, prompting Western sanctions and an economic crisis.
A trial of five Chechens who were allegedly involved in Nemtsov's murder began in October. Critics doubt that
those who ordered the killing will ever face justice.
Sunday's rally was overshadowed by an incident: Green ink was thrown into the face of Putin critic and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov while he joined the protest.
The rally in Moscow was the largest opposition gathering since a similar memorial march for Nemtsov last year. Moscow police said 5,000 attended the event but organizers put the figure in the tens of thousands.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...