Pope prays for dialogue, reconciliation in Jerusalem
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=168860&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called on Muslims andJews in the Holy Land to "moderation and dialogue" as tensionscontinued around a key site in Jerusalem that is sacred to members of bothfaiths.After reciting the Angelus July 23, the pope asked peoplegathered in St. Peter's Square for the midday prayer to join him in asking theLord to inspire reconciliation and peace in the region.Tensions in Jerusalem have been high since July 14 whenthree Israeli Arabs armed with knives and guns killed two Israeli policeofficers at an entrance to the site the Jews call Temple Mount and the Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.The site includes the Western Wall and Al Aqsa mosque.In his main Angelus talk, Pope Francis spoke about theparable of the weeds among the wheat from the Sunday Gospel reading.The farmer in the parable from the Gospel of Matthew tellshis workers not to pull up all the weeds because they might uproot the wheat,but to wait until the harvest when the wheat and weeds...
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called on Muslims and
Jews in the Holy Land to "moderation and dialogue" as tensions
continued around a key site in Jerusalem that is sacred to members of both
faiths.
After reciting the Angelus July 23, the pope asked people
gathered in St. Peter's Square for the midday prayer to join him in asking the
Lord to inspire reconciliation and peace in the region.
Tensions in Jerusalem have been high since July 14 when
three Israeli Arabs armed with knives and guns killed two Israeli police
officers at an entrance to the site the Jews call Temple Mount and the Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.
The site includes the Western Wall and Al Aqsa mosque.
In his main Angelus talk, Pope Francis spoke about the
parable of the weeds among the wheat from the Sunday Gospel reading.
The farmer in the parable from the Gospel of Matthew tells
his workers not to pull up all the weeds because they might uproot the wheat,
but to wait until the harvest when the wheat and weeds can be separated.
"With this image, Jesus tells us that in this world
good and evil are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them and
eradicate all the evil -- only God can do that," the pope said.
Human beings are called to the "difficult exercise of
discernment" in choosing between good and what is evil, he said, and when
they fail -- which all people do sometimes -- the church stands ready to help
with the grace of baptism and of confession.
Like the farmer in the parable, the pope said, God calls
Christians to be patient as they await the harvest.
"Patience means preferring a church that is leaven in
the dough, that is not afraid of getting its hands dirty washing the clothes of
its children, rather than being a church of the 'pure,' who insist on judging
beforehand who is in the kingdom of God and who isn't."
- - -
Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
Full Article
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=275537&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
null / Credit: Juthamat8899/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new report on Wednesday highlighting the countries with the worst religious persecution in the world.From this report, which is released annually, USCIRF makes recommendations to the State Department on how to best advocate for religious freedom. The suggestions typically translate into sanctions from the U.S. against violating countries to pressure them to improve their religious tolerance. This year, the countries topping USCIRF's list of the world's most egregious religious freedom violators were Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.USCIRF recommends these nations be designated as "countries of particul...
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=275536&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
The St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States, on April 9, 2020, in New Orleans. / Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking, according to allegations presented in a search warrant granted to Louisiana State Police.The affidavit requesting the search warrant, first obtained by the New Orleans-based WWL Radio, alleges that multiple sex abuse victims provided statements that claim they were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused. It further alleges a scheme within the archdiocese in which abused children were instructed to provide "gifts" to certain priests, which were meant to signal that the children were targets for sexual abuse.According to the ...
http://www.myspiritfm.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=275535&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore pack the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen during a concluding listening session on the archdiocese's major parish restructuring plan on April 30, 2024. / Credit: Matthew BalanBaltimore, Md., May 1, 2024 / 18:10 pm (CNA).Hundreds of Catholic residents of Baltimore packed the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Tuesday evening to give their often-impassioned reactions to a process that could lead to the closure of nearly two-thirds of the city's parishes.Several parishes from the state's largest city organized large contingents to attend the April 30 meeting, which was the final of three listening sessions for the Archdiocese of Baltimore's "Seek the City" parish restructuring proposal. They made their presence known with custom-made T-shirts or ethnic attire, with some even carrying large banners that begged Archbishop William Lori to spare their churches.Parishioners from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in the Mount Washington neighborhood of...