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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis takes off for the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday for a two-day visit to the majority Orthodox republic.As well as meeting with religious and civil authorities in Tbilisi, the Pope will travel to the nearby ancient city of Mtskheta, founded in the 5th century BC and famed as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The former capital contains many important monuments of early Christian architecture for the Caucuses region, including the 11th century Svetitskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral.The visit comes 17 years after Pope John Paul II made a landmark trip to the republic, struggling to rebuild as an independent nation following 70 years of Soviet domination.Dr Tamara Grdzelidze is an Orthodox theologian, now serving as Georgia’s ambassador to the Holy See. Ahead of the papal visit, she sat down with Philippa Hitchen to talk about expectations for the trip and about the historical difficulties between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will shine the spotlight on the suffering Christian communities in Syria and Iraq as he visits a Chaldean church in Georgia at the start of his 16th pastoral journey abroad.On the first day of his September 30th to October 2nd visit to the Caucuses region, the Pope will have an important encounter at the Syro-Chaldean church of St Simon the Tanner in Tbilisi, with members of one of the three different rites that make up the small Catholic community in Georgia.There he will meet with Chaldean bishops from all over the world led by their Patriarch Louis Sako from the Iraqi capital Baghdad. It will be a profoundly spiritual encounter as the Pope joins the Church leaders in prayer for the suffering people of Syria and Iraq, so many of whom have been driven out of their ancestral lands by so-called Islamic State militants.Cardinal Fernando Filoni is head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and before that he served as Apostolic Nunci...
(Vatican Radio) A professor at the Caucasus University of Tbilisi says the peace motto chosen for Pope Francis’ pastoral visit to Georgia this weekend will strike a deep chord in this nation that has seen so much war and conflict in recent years. Monica Ellena is a professor of Political Communications at the university in the Georgian capital and she spoke to Vatican Radio’s Gabriella Ceraso just ahead of the papal visit.Listen to the interview with Monica Ellena, Professor Monica Ellena of the Caucasus University of Tbilisi: Ellena said Pope Francis’ trip comes 17 years after Pope John Paul’s landmark visit to Georgia in 1999 and the two papal visits have a very different historical context. In 1999 Georgia was still struggling to find its way after gaining its independence following the collapse of Soviet rule in eastern Europe whereas this papal visit in 2016, she noted, comes as the country has firmly set its sights on the West. Ellena also belie...
Janeth Mhella of Vatican Radio’s Africa Service became the first African ever at Vatican Radio to be honoured by Pope Francis for having served the Pope and the Church diligently in her work at the radio. Mhella, from the KiSwahili language Service, was handed one of Pope Francis’ highest awards that can be given to a lay person. Also known as the "Cross of Honour," the medal and certificate were presented to Mhella by the Monsignor Dario Viganò, the Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See. Five other persons from the new dicastery, the Secretariat for Communication were also honoured. Mhella’s “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” Medal which is Latin “For Church and Pope” is an award of the Catholic Church established by Pope Leo XIII in 1888. The award is for deserving clergy or lay persons and is given for services done for the Church and its head.Janeth Mhella is simply known to all her colleagues at ...
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, says Pope Francis’ 3-day visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan should be viewed as a mission for peace and unity in this troubled area of the world. The cardinal was interviewed (in Italian) by Barbara Castello of the Vatican Television Centre.Cardinal Parolin noted that this weekend’s papal trip is the final leg of a Caucasus pilgrimage that began in June with the Pope's visit to Armenia. He spoke of how Pope Francis will be visiting these two nations as “a friend” to meet its people and to promote a culture of encounter that he considers so important and whilst there will speak out in favour of peace, reconciliation and unity. Asked about some of the challenges facing Georgia, his first leg, Cardinal Parolin mentioned the issue of refugees, both those who have fled to Georgia from conflicts in the Middle East and the internally displaced who have been uprooted from their ho...
Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 29, 2016 / 06:11 am (CNA).- On Sept. 2, Dodger Stadium served as the center of a massive Venn diagram of local Catholics and lifelong fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the ballpark hosted its first-ever “Catholic Night.”The baseball team hosted, fittingly, the San Diego Padres on the field, and actual ordained members of religious life and lay people from throughout the tri-county Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the stands.Notable Catholics in attendance included Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron and native Angeleno Auxiliary Bishop Joseph V. Brennan, both Dodger fans, who were given the chance to realize the lifelong dream of coming onto the field to throw out ceremonial first pitches.Both were understandably a tad nervous about tossing the first pitches in front of thousands of people, but were all smiles as they warmed up their arms in their Dodger hats and gear on top of their clerical collars. Bishop Brennan wore a blue Dodgers pullover jack...
Vatican City, Sep 29, 2016 / 08:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Announced Thursday, this year's World Day of Social Communications will focus on the theme of spreading hope and trust in the “Good News” of Jesus Christ and salvation.“'Fear not, for I am with you' (Is 43:5) Communicating hope and trust in our time,” was announced as the theme for 2017 by the Pontifical Council of Social Communication in a communique from the Vatican Sept. 29.When those in the field of communication are far from the scene of where things are happening, frequently they can “ignore the complexity of the dramas faced by men and women,” and fall into “desperation” over “looming fears,” the communique says.The push to “fear not,” on the other hand, “is an invitation to tell the history of the world and the histories of men and women in accordance with the logic of the 'good news,'” reminding us that “God ne...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Katie BreidenbachBy Katie BreidenbachTOLEDO, Ohio (CNS) -- The momentAnn Barrick stepped from the sidewalk onto the crumbling parking lot, her eyesfilled with tears."You pray about these things,and you never think you're going to see it happen."For nine years, Barrick stood onthat very sidewalk, praying that Center for Choice of Toledo would cease toexist. Every autumn, she led the "40 Days for Life" vigil outside the abortionfacility.Her prayers were answered.Shuttered in 2013, the Center for Choice was finally bulldozed at the beginningof September. Today, the derelict parking lot leads only to a muddy plotstudded with fragments of the former foundation."It can't be anything butprayer. There's no reason this place should have come down," Barrick said.Adding miracle to miracle,representatives from multiple pro-life organizations met at the offices of theDiocese of Toledo Sept. 26. The ecumenical group is executing a oncefar-fetched vision: to convert the site of th...
By Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis said he will nevergive up calling for stronger efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and forpeople to stop being indifferent to the fate of the region's people."My daily prayer to God," he said, is "toinspire the minds and hearts of all who have political responsibility, thatthey may be able to renounce their own interests in order to achieve thegreater good -- peace."The pope spoke during a private audience Sept. 29 at theVatican with bishops, priests, religious and lay Catholics who provide pastoraland humanitarian assistance to those in need in Syria, Iraq and neighboringcountries.Despite many efforts to alleviate people's suffering, hesaid, sadly "the logic of weapons and oppression, hidden interests andviolence continues to wreak devastation on these countries and, even now, wehave not been able to put an end to the exasperating suffering and repeatedviolations of human rights."Why, he asked, "even at the cost of untold dama...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mary J. Blige said she decided to sing Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin (41 Shots)" to Hillary Clinton during her recent interview because she was trying to get the Democratic presidential nominee to feel and understand the widening frustration among blacks in America over police brutality and similar topics....
