Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has ended his 16th Apostolic Journey Abroad.The papal plane bringing him back to Vatican City departed from Baku’s International Heydar Aliyev Airport at 7.15pm local time after a brief Farewell Ceremony in the presence of the Azeri Vice-Prime Minister and the Guards of Honor.He is scheduled to land at Rome’s Ciampino Airport at 10pm local time.He arrived in Tblisi, Georgia, on Friday 30 September.The journey represented the second phase of Francis’ trip to the Caucasus, which began on June 24, 2016 with a visit to Armenia. It is part of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy and the journey has been undertaken in the spirit of promoting peace and bridge building in the Caucasian region.This international Apostolic Journey is the 153rd Papal Visit abroad in modern time.Pope Saint John Paul visited Georgia in 1999 and Azerbaijan in 2002.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct 2, 2016 / 07:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a meeting with political leaders Sunday, Pope Francis praised the peaceful relationship among Catholics, Muslims, Orthodox, and Jews in Azerbaijan, criticizing those who use God as a defense in religiously-motivated violence.In his Oct. 2 speech, Francis said that during his brief visit, he has been particularly pleased to see “the cordial relations enjoyed by the Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish” communities.“It is my hope that the signs of friendship and cooperation may continue to increase,” he said, stressing that “the attachment to authentic religious values is utterly incompatible with the attempt to violently impose on others one’s own vision, using God’s holy name as 'armor.'”Pope Francis met with the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and his wife, as well as other authorities and members of the Diplomatic Corps, in the capital city o...
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct 2, 2016 / 08:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his final speech in Azerbaijan, Pope Francis spoke at length praising the good interreligious relations in the country, but also cautioned that religion must always be respected in civil society, and can never be used as a tool to justify violence.“Society must always overcome the temptation to take advantage of religious factors,” the Pope said Oct. 2. Religions, he said, “must never be instrumentalized, nor can they ever lend support to, or approve of, conflicts and disagreements.”To illustrate his point, the Pope referred to the traditional artistic windows of Azerbaijan made solely out of wood and tinted glass, with no glue or nails used in the process.With the traditional means of crafting, the wood and the glass are set together through “time-consuming and meticulous effort,” leading the wood to support the glass, which in turn lets the light in, he observed.Using this method as a...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- More federal money finally is available to fight Zika even as the news worsens. Babies who at first seem to have escaped the virus' devastating hallmark defect - an abnormally small head at birth - might not be out of the woods after all....
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) -- Pope Francis praised Azerbaijan on Sunday as a model for a world divided by violent extremism, sidestepping criticism of the government for the sake of encouraging religious tolerance in an often-volatile region where Catholics are a minority....
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Republican Donald Trump can do little to stop Democrat Hillary Clinton from winning the presidency if she carries North Carolina, where their close race reflects the national liabilities of both candidates....
LONDON (AP) -- Britain will trigger the formal process for leaving the European Union before the end of March, Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday, putting to rest weeks of speculation on the timing of the move....
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Like many transgender teens, Jenn Brewer faced bullying when she came out. Some classmates called her "tranny," and a few teachers refused to address the 13-year-old by anything other than her male birth name, she said....
BISHOFTU, Ethiopia (AP) -- Dozens of people were crushed to death Sunday in a stampede after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse an anti-government protest that grew out of a massive religious festival, witnesses said....
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A powerful Hurricane Matthew moved slowly across the Caribbean Sea Sunday on a track that authorities warned could trigger devastation in parts of Haiti....
