(Vatican Radio) Pilgrims packed into Jerusalem’s Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on Wednesday, one day after the Edicule, or chapel enclosing Jesus’ tomb was rededicated following an extensive restoration project.A team of experts from the University of Athens took less than a year to finish the first phase of work on the ornate chapel, allowing it to be restored to use for the forthcoming Easter celebrations.Representatives of all the local Christian communities gathered for a simple prayer service in the ancient basilica, alongside special guests including the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, the Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem paid tribute to the “witness of faith, dialogue and respect” of the different Churches charged with maintaining the shrine, while the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III described the newly restored chapel as “a gift, not just to the ...
(Vatican Radio) Pilgrims packed into Jerusalem’s Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on Wednesday, one day after the Edicule, or chapel enclosing Jesus’ tomb was rededicated following an extensive restoration project.
A team of experts from the University of Athens took less than a year to finish the first phase of work on the ornate chapel, allowing it to be restored to use for the forthcoming Easter celebrations.
Representatives of all the local Christian communities gathered for a simple prayer service in the ancient basilica, alongside special guests including the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, the Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem paid tribute to the “witness of faith, dialogue and respect” of the different Churches charged with maintaining the shrine, while the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III described the newly restored chapel as “a gift, not just to the Holy Land, but to the whole world.”
Philippa Hitchen is in Jerusalem with the Tantur Ecumenical Institute and talked to Archimandrite Aristovoulos, principle cantor for the Greek Orthodox Church in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre…
null / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) released a pair of emergency rules that it said are aimed at combating "misinformation" and a "deeply dishonest scare campaign" by the Biden administration about the state's new six-week pro-life law. The rules, published on May 1, establish guidance for lifesaving measures and clarify that certain procedures, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies, are not considered abortion and remain legal under the Florida Heartbeat Protection Act, which went into effect on Wednesday. This comes amid significant criticism over the state's pro-life law that prohibits abortions on women after six weeks of pregnancy except for in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. The new AHCA rules further clarify those exceptions. "The agency finds there is an immediate danger to th...
Oviedo Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes accused the government of focusing "in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church." / Credit: Archdiocese of OviedoACI Prensa Staff, May 2, 2024 / 18:50 pm (CNA)."They have done it again. It is a kind of obsessive mantra every time they need a smokescreen to distract from the real problems we have and to which they so clumsily and insidiously apply their tortuous governance."That is how the archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, began a letter released this week titled "The Accusing Rattle" in which he responds to the socialist government's announcement of an exclusive plan to address sexual and power abuses committed within the Catholic Church.In the opinion of the prelate, the country's executive "has tried to focus in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church, which represents an exclusive...
Pope Francis meets with 300 priests taking part in the World Meeting of Parish Priests on May 2, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 12:41 pm (CNA).Pope Francis published a letter on Thursday addressed to all parish priests in the world with his advice for building a missionary Church in which all the baptized share in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel."Parish communities increasingly need to become places from which the baptized set out as missionary disciples and to which they return, full of joy, in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness," Pope Francis wrote in the letter published on May 2.The pope presented the letter to 300 priests participating in the Synod on Synodality's "World Meeting of Parish Priests" during an audience at the Vatican, saying that their meeting is "an opportunity to remember in my prayers all of the parish priests in the world to whom I address these words with great affection."P...
