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BAGHDAD (AP) -- On the eerily quiet streets of Mosul, fighters from the Islamic State group are killing suspected spies, blocking roads and planting bombs ahead of a showdown with Iraqi forces....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday tore into Donald Trump for sowing suspicion about the integrity of the U.S. election, telling the Republican presidential nominee to "stop whining" and focus on winning votes....
(Vatican Radio) Promoting reconciliation and dialogue in a divided and wounded world is a top priority for the Society of Jesus under its new leader, Venezuelan Father Arturo Sosa, the first non-European to be elected as the Jesuit superior general.Fr Sosa held a press conference on Tuesday morning to discuss his election last week by Jesuits from around the world who are meeting in Rome for their 36th General Congregation.Philippa Hitchen went along to find out more about the reactions of the new ‘black pope’, as he’s popularly known, and the direction in which he’ll be leading the Church’s largest order of religious men…..Listen: Fr Sosa said he was serene, surprised, grateful and “ready to respond with joy” to the challenges currently being discussed by the Jesuits holding their 36th general congregation since the order was founded by St Ignatius of Loyola, nearly five centuries ago. Speaking at the Jesuit headquarter...
(Vatican Radio) Bishops of the Catholic Eastern Rite Churches in Europe are meeting in Portugal from 20-23 October to discuss the challenge of the pastoral care of Eastern Catholic migrants in Western European nations, especially the preservation of their cultural and ecclesial identity. Please find below a press release in English on the upcoming meeting published by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences: The annual meeting of the Bishops of the Catholic Eastern Rite Churches in Europe is taking place this year at Fatima (Portugal), at the invitation of the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, President of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference. In this meeting-pilgrimage at the Marian Shrine of Fatima, which in 2017 is celebrating the centenary of the apparitions, the bishops representing 15 Catholic Eastern Rite Churches in Europe, along with bishops representing various episcopal conferences from Western European nations (France, ...
Sir 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18; Lk 18:9-14William Barclay tells the story of the woman tourist in Germany. The guide took a group through Beethoven's house. He showed them the piano on which the genius had composed his Moonlight Sonata. A woman in the group immediately sat down and played some bars from the sonata. The guide told the group that Paderewski (world renowned Polish pianist and composer) had recently been shown the piano. The woman gushed, "And I wager he sat down and played just as I did." Archly the guide said, "No, Madam. He said he was not worthy to touch those keys."Introduction: The main theme of today’s Gospel is that true humility must be the hallmark of our prayers. The central focus of today’s parable is not on prayer itself, but rather on pride, humility and the role of grace in our salvation.Today we also observe the World Mission Sunday. This annual observance was instituted 89 years ago in 1926 by...
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Oct 18, 2016 / 06:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious leaders in Ethiopia have joined together to plead for peace amid ongoing protests that have sometimes resulted in deadly violence.“We the religious leaders of Ethiopia firmly believe that peace is a priceless grace from God. It is possible to worship with a calm spirit only when there is sustainable peace,” the leaders of the Inter-religious Council of Ethiopia said. “We Ethiopians have lived together through the ages sharing our joys and griefs, problems and challenges; and we are still practicing the same values.”The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is represented on the interreligious council. Its statement was published by the Catholic News Agency for Africa.The interreligious leaders called on people of different religions to accept each other with mutual respect, forgiveness and mercy and unite for peace. They asked Ethiopians to “look at your fellow Ethiopians as brothers and s...
Vatican City, Oct 18, 2016 / 09:27 am (CNA).- The decision to open a McDonald’s restaurant inside a Vatican property just around the corner from St. Peter’s Square has been met harsh criticism from cardinals who live in the building.But the man in charge of rolling out the project says the plan is moving forward despite disagreement.Dubbed by some as “McVatican,” the new restaurant will be located in a Vatican property on the intersection of Rome’s Via del Mascherino and Via Borgo Pio, literally around the corner from the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica.After having received numerous requests from different companies to move into the empty space, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which oversees the Vatican's assets, decided to rent it to McDonald’s for 30,000 euros a month.In an interview with Italian newspaper La Reppublica, Italian Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for ...
IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Fordham UniversityBy Beth GriffinNEWYORK (CNS) -- Laughing at ourselves and being open to sharing our failures andflaws within and beyond the community of faith is a powerful means to dispelthe myth that Catholics are ignorant or judgmental or exclusive in any way,actress Jeannie Gaffigan told an audience in New York Oct 14.Thecomedy writer and producer of "The Jim Gaffigan Show" accepted the inauguralEloquentia Perfecta Award from Paulist Press and the Fordham UniversityGraduate School of Religion and Religious Education.Theactress, who is the wife of comedian Jim Gaffigan and mother of their fivepre-teenage children, said her Catholic faith and Jesuit education inform andinspire the scripts she co-writes for her husband's comedy specials and hisseries on the TV Land cable network.Shesaid the couple tries, "in our own imperfect way, to present a household offaith in one of the most culturally diverse places in our country." Thetelevision show is loosely ba...
By Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Following Christ may take a person down a path that leads to anguish, isolation, even martyrdom, but a Christian will never feel bitterness or regret because Christ never leaves his or her side, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.In his homily during Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae Oct. 18, the pope focused on the day's reading from St. Paul's Second Letter to Timothy (4:10-17) in which the apostle sadly takes note of those who deserted him. However, "the Lord stood by me and gave me strength," the verse says."The life of the great Paul ends in desolation, not in resentment and bitterness, but with internal grief," the pope said. In fact, many other martyrs like St. Peter, St. John the Baptist and St. Maximilian Kolbe, he said, died abandoned by so many, but they drew their strength from Jesus, who they knew was by their side."When the apostle is faithful, he doesn't expect an end other than that of Jesus," he said. "This is the law of the Gospe...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It will take more than three clicks of the heels to restore the ruby slippers that whisked Dorothy back to Kansas at the end of "The Wizard of Oz."...
