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Residents of New Delhi woke up to a blanket of smog on Monday as air quality deteriorated sharply overnight in India's capital, triggering warnings that even healthy people were at risk of respiratory problems. New Delhi ranks among the world's most polluted cities, with air quality usually worsening at this time of year, when smoke from firecrackers celebrating the Hindu Diwali festival of lights and crops burnt in nearby states envelops the city of 16 million. Experts warned people to avoid outdoor exertion. "Last night, levels hit the severe category, which is the worst. You could see and sense how the visibility had come down and there was a choking haze all around," said Anumita Roychowdhury at the Centre for Science and Environment. Levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter that reaches deep into the lungs, more than doubled within a few hours to 750 micrograms per cubic meter in the city's worst affected parts, ...
(Vatican Radio) Participating in the “From Conflict to Communion – Together in Hope” event in the Malmö Arena is Monsignor Hector Fabio Henao, director of Caritas Colombia and a member of the Caritas Internationalis’ Colombia Working Group which is committed to ensuring the Colombian peace process stays on track. During the ecumenical event those present will pledge to leave conflict behind and to work to put n compassionate and loving service in action.Monsignor Henao told Philippa Hitchen how Catholics and Lutherans have been working together to bring peace to Colombia.Listen: Msg Henao explains that Caritas and the WLF have been working together for many years supporting victims and setting out a common strategy.He also speaks of the current status of the negotiations between the government and some of the rebels.“There will soon be another agreement with FARC, it is building in a very fast way, but meanwhile it is important to have natio...
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday blocked the execution of a paranoid schizophrenic murder convict pending a review of an earlier ruling that his condition was not a permanent mental disorder and therefore not legally relevant, his lawyers said. Rights groups have denounced the possible execution of Imdad Ali, 50, who government doctors certified as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in 2012, following his conviction for the 2001 murder of a cleric. He was due to be executed on Wednesday, according to execution orders issued last week. But the Supreme Court agreed to review an Oct. 21 ruling on Ali's final appeal, when the court ruled that schizophrenia did not fall within Pakistan's legal definition of mental disorders."We welcome the decision ... which will be integral in showing Pakistan's commitment to its international human rights obligations," said Zainab Malik, head of advocacy at Justice Project Pakistan, a legal aid g...
(Vatican Radio) An event scheduled to take place on Monday in the Malmö Arena of Sweden, titled “From Conflict to Communion – Together in Hope” sees the participation of Pope Francis, leaders from Church of Sweden and the Catholic Diocese of Stockholm, and leaders of the World Lutheran Federation on Monday.This public event is also scheduled to include the signing of an agreement of cooperation between the WLF’s charitable arm, the Lutheran World Service, and Caritas Internationalis. One person who will be giving testimony at the event is an ecological activist from India, Pranita Biswasi, who spoke with Philippa Hitchen in Sweden ahead of the event.Click below to hear their conversation
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis and Bishop Mounib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation signed a Joint Statement on Monday in which Catholics and Lutherans pledged to pursue their dialogue in order to remove the remaining obstacles that hinder them from reaching full unity. They also stressed their commitment to common witness on behalf of the poor, the needy and the victims of injustice. The Declaration was signed during the ecumenical prayer service held in Lund’s Lutheran Cathedral on the first day of the Pope’s visit to Sweden.Please find below the full text of the Statement:JOINT STATEMENTon the occasion of the Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the ReformationLund, 31 October 2016 «Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me» (John 15:4).With thankful heartsWith this Joint Statement, we express joyful gratitude to God for t...
Lund, Sweden, Oct 31, 2016 / 08:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a joint declaration signed for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Catholic and Lutheran leaders apologized for division in the Church and pledged to work for greater unity.“Fifty years of sustained and fruitful ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans have helped us to overcome many differences, and have deepened our mutual understanding and trust,” the statement said.“At the same time, we have drawn closer to one another through joint service to our neighbours – often in circumstances of suffering and persecution. Through dialogue and shared witness we are no longer strangers. Rather, we have learned that what unites us is greater than what divides us.”The joint statement was signed on Oct. 31, 2016, during Pope Francis’ trip to Sweden to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.“While we are profoundly thankful for the spiritual and theological gif...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Cindy WoodenMALMO, Sweden (CNS) -- Under athick gray sky, Pope Francis was welcomed to Sweden with a small formalceremony, which conveyed by its brevity that the trip was not a formal statevisit, but had another purpose.Flying to Malmo Oct. 31, PopeFrancis told reporters that the trip was a "very important ecclesialevent" because of its ecumenical focus. He also asked that the journalists helpin explaining the trip "so that people understand it well."Arriving at the Malmo airport, hewas greeted by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and by Archbishop AntjeJackelen, primate of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, as well as by the country'slone Catholic bishop, Bishop Anders Arborelius of Sweden.A military band played the Vaticanand Swedish national anthems as the pope and prime minister stood facingSweden's flag, which is blue with a yellow cross. Members of the general publicwere not present for the welcoming ceremony.The pope met briefly in an airportVIP loung...
By Junno Arocho EstevesROME (CNS) -- Priests in central Italy were instructedto celebrate Mass outdoors following another devastating earthquake that rockedthe region and brought one its most spiritually and historically significantchurches tumbling down.Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Citta della Pieve advised priests to not celebrate Massindoors over the next several days, including Nov. 1, the Solemnity of All Saints, which is alsoa national holiday in Italy.The 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck Norcia in the earlymorning Oct. 30 andreduced the Basilica of St. Benedict to rubble.Atthe noonday Angelus Oct. 30, Pope Francis prayed for the "the wounded and the families that have suffered majordamage as well as for the personnel involved in rescue efforts and in aidingthe victims. "May the Risen Lord give them strength and Our Ladywatch over them," the pope said. The Benedictine monks of Norcia assisted in reliefefforts as well as helping to guide anxious residents to the town...
By Cindy WoodenLUND, Sweden (CNS) -- UrgingCatholics and Lutherans to take decisive steps toward unity, Pope Francisnevertheless offered no new openings to the idea of sharing Communion beforefull unity is achieved."We Christians will becredible witnesses of mercy to the extent that forgiveness, renewal andreconciliation are daily experienced in our midst," the pope said Oct. 31during an ecumenical prayer service in the Lutherans' Lund cathedral, which wasbuilt as a Catholic cathedral in the 11th century.With the prayer service, PopeFrancis and leaders of the Lutheran World Federation launched a year ofactivities to mark the 500th anniversary in 2017 of Martin Luther's efforts toreform the church.For Pope Francis and the Vatican,Catholics are called to commemorate the event by focusing on concrete ways toexpress and strengthen the doctrinal agreements reached by Catholic andLutheran theologians over the past 50 years. The most appropriate way to markthe anniversary, they said, was ...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Did Bill Cosby drug and molest young women as part of a "signature" crime spree spanning five decades? Prosecutors preparing for his sexual-assault trial hope to call 13 of about 60 accusers to show just that....
