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FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) -- The mosque that Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen attended was set on fire in what Muslim leaders said Monday was the latest incident in an escalating campaign of harassment and violence against the house of worship and its members....
BEIRUT (AP) -- A U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire for Syria came into effect on Monday at sunset, with monitoring groups and state media reporting clashes up until the final minutes, and the most powerful rebel groups having yet to commit to the truce....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States and Russia could approve Syrian government airstrikes as part of a new nationwide cease-fire, Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday. It's the closest any American official has come to suggesting indirect U.S. cooperation with President Bashar Assad since the civil war started five years ago....
(Vatican Radio) “A discussion on economy is in no way a mere discussion on finance – which is only an instrument”.These were words of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi during a Vatican press conference on Monday to present an upcoming ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’ conference focusing on economy and social justice. The ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’ Foundation is an initiative led by the Pontifical Council for Culture and its president, Cardinal Ravasi, following a suggestion of the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, to encourage dialogue between believers of all faiths and nonbelievers, often in the form of discussions between Ravasi and secular professors. Speaking to the media in the run up to the Conference entitled “Towards a more human and just economy. A new economic paradigm in a context of increasing inequalities” scheduled to take place on 21 September in Rome, Ravasi elaborated upon the issue at hand and introduced two of the...
Following the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis in Rome, Sept 4, dioceses, parishes and communities have been offering thanksgiving Masses for the sainthood of the Church’s latest saint. The Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar in eastern India’s Odisha state, is one such community that on Sunday offered a thanksgiving Mass for the sainthood of Mother Teresa. Welcomed by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity nuns, about 2,000 faithful, widows, orphans, sick, disabled and poor people participated in the Mass led by Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar in St Vincent’s Cathedral in the state capital Bhubaneshwar. "Saint Teresa represents the new identity of Christians and a model of goodness for humans in modern times,” Archbishop Barwa said in his homily. “Mother Teresa restored human dignity to people who were abandoned, forgotten, uncared for, not ...
(Vatican Radio) As the deadline for the much anticipated cessation of hostilities looms, the people of Syria wait with baited breath.Bishop Antoine Audo, President of Caritas Syria spoke to Vatican Radio from his Aleppo headquarters and expressed his people’s hope for the silencing of all weapons… Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: “Everyone – especially here in Aleppo – is awaiting this change. We are hoping… we have been suffering for six years, and we are hoping for signs of peace and reconciliation. We are hoping…” Meanwhile, bishop Antoine Audo, President of the local Syrian Caritas organization that is fundamental in getting humanitarian assistance into the besieged city, says his people are working as always and are able now to bring food and medicine into the city, although he has heard that factions opposed to the new deal are planning to step up the bombing again on the city center…Of his com...
IMAGE: CNS/Dave Hrbacek, The Catholic SpiritBy Carol GlatzVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Members of the pope's commission for child protection, includingan abuse survivor, have been speaking with new bishops and major Vaticanoffices as part of a mandate to develop and educate the church about bestpractices.PopeFrancis also approved the establishment of a day of prayer for survivors ofabuse, but decided it will be up to each nation's bishops' conference to decidewhen the memorial should be held, according a press release Sept. 12 from thePontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Membersof the pontifical commission have spoken recently with officials at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societiesof Apostolic Life, as well as at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, whichtrains priests for service in the Vatican's diplomatic corps. Pontificalcommission members, who were in Rome in early September, were also set toaddress the Congregation for Clergy and to speak...
IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore RomanoBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a brief outdoor ceremony, PopeFrancis administered the sacrament of confirmation to 16-year-old GiuseppeChiolo, who had come to the Vatican by ambulance from Florence.Chiolo, who is being treated in the oncology ward of a Florencehospital, had written to Pope Francis with a request to meet him.The teenager was given his wish, and the sacrament, Sept. 10before the pope joined about 30,000 people for a special Year of Mercy generalaudience in St. Peter's Square.The young man's parents, Carmelo and Maria Giuseppina, andhis sister, Dafne, also were present, as was the chaplain of Meyer Children's Hospital,where Chiolo is receiving treatment.In his audience talk, Pope Francis said that in God's mercyhe sent Jesus into the world "so that we could receive a new life markedby pardon, love and joy.""Certainly, it is true that life puts us to the testand sometimes we suffer because of it," the pope said. "Nevertheless,at ...
PARIS (AP) -- France's latest efforts to reduce pollution will also affect nature lovers hitting the countryside for an outdoor meal: Under a controversial new ban, picnickers won't be able to buy plastic goblets to drink their beloved wine, or plastic knives to make ham and butter baguette sandwiches....
BERLIN (AP) -- A leading member of Alternative for Germany, the nationalist party whose recent election successes have shaken the country's political system, faced fierce criticism Monday after calling for a racially charged term once favored by the Nazis to be rehabilitated....
