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Vatican Weekend for October 2, 2016 features the latest in our weekly series, "There's More in the Sunday Gospel than Meets the Eye" and we shine the spotlight on some of the highlights of Pope Francis' 16th apostolic journey abroad: to Georgia and Azerbaijan, and in particular, on his day in Baku, Azerbaijan.Listen to this programme presented and produced by Tracey McClure:
Rouen, France, Oct 2, 2016 / 12:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The French diocese of Rouen has officially begun an inquiry into the beatification of French priest Jacques Hamel, killed by Islamic extremists earlier this summer, after receiving a note from Pope Francis waiving the traditional five-year waiting period.Rouen’s Archbishop Dominique Lebrun made the announcement after celebrating a Mass Oct. 2 to re-open the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, where Fr. Hamel was killed by supporters of the Islamic State while saying Mass in July.Typically there is a five-year waiting period required after the death of a person before a diocese can begin official investigations for the beatification. Though waiving the rule isn’t normal, other modern examples of the exemption are St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. John Paul II.According to an Oct. 2 statement released by the French Bishops Conference, Archbishop Lebrun was informed by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Cause...
By Cindy WoodenTBILISI, Georgia (CNS) -- At a papal Mass focused on two female saints, the longing for Christian unity and the painfulreality of Christian division were strong undertones.Celebrating Mass Oct. 1, the feast of St. Therese ofLisieux, Pope Francis also praised St. Nino, a woman who evangelized Georgia inthe fourth century, is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church and hailedby the Georgian Orthodox as "equal to the Apostles and the enlightener ofGeorgia."A few thousand people -- including many expatriates living andworking in Georgia -- attended the morning Mass, which was celebrated in aTbilisi soccer stadium.While the official theme of the pope's visit to Georgia was"Pax vobis" -- "Peace be with you" -- the caps and scarveshanded out at the Mass and worn by most in the crowd said, "Ut unumsint," the Latin for "that all may be one."The vast majority of Georgians are members of the OrthodoxChurch. Catholics, including Armenians, Chaldeans and members of the Latin...
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. The Oromia regional government confirmed the death toll at 52....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump reported a more than $900 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns filed in three states, as revealed in documents obtained by The New York Times that experts say could have allowed him to forgo paying federal income taxes for nearly two decades....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday praised the people of Azerbaijan for the good relations that exisit between Catholic, Muslims, Orthodox and Jewish communities in the country.In a speech on Sunday afternoon to political and civil authorities, the Pope expressed his hope that the signs of friendship and cooperation may continue to increase and said they lay the path for peace in the world. “These good relations assume great significance for peaceful coexistence and for peace in the world, and they demonstrate that among the followers of different religious confessions cordial relations, respect and cooperation for the good of all are possible” he said. The Pope also said “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 ‘armour’”.And he appealed to all so that faith in God may be “a source and insp...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called on Muslim leaders to join him in giving a united response to a conflict-ridden world and to build together a future of peace. Speaking on Sunday afternoon to Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, Grand Mufti of the Caucasus during an interreligious meeting at the end of his apostolic visit to Azerbaijan, the Pope said that today “we are challenged to give a response that can no longer be put off”.To the Sheikh – who is also the Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office – and who received him in the Aliyev Mosque of Baku, the Pope said: “now is not the time for violent or abrupt solutions, but rather an urgent moment to engage in patient processes of reconciliation. The real question of our time is not how to advance our own causes, but what proposals for life are we offering to future generations; how to leave them a better world than the one we have received”.And reiterating his appeal...
(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...
