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(Vatican Radio) Over 210,000 Christians in Uzbekistan face more danger and uncertainty after Uzbekistan's parliament appointed Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev as interim president following the death of strongman leader Islam Karimov, according to tesimonies of local missionaries. Christians have also expressed concern about persecution in neighboring Kazakhstan, where Baqytzhan Saghyntaev was appointed as the new prime minister.Listen to Stefan Bos' report: "Many Christians and pastors in Uzbekistan believe that the situation for believers will only grow worse in the coming months," said the Mission Eurasia group in a statement. "If the current Prime Minister, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, comes to power, the harassment and persecution of Christians will likely continue—or grow worse."Mirziyaev, 58, is a close Karimov ally. He served as prime minister since 2003, holding the post longer than anyone else in the 25 years since Uzbekistan gained indepe...
(Vatican Radio) Nearly 28,000 people have gone missing during Mexico's ongoing nine-year drug war. The updated numbers were released by the Mexican Ministry of the Interior.Listen to James Blears' report: The chilling statistic adds up to 27,887, and it comes from the newly created National Data Registry of Missing or Disappeared Persons, covering all of Mexico's 32 States. Drug cartel ravaged Tamaulipas, skirting Texas, accounts for 21 percent of the total. The true overall figure, however, is likely to be much higher. Many traumatized families are terrorized and intimidated into silence by organized crime. Others have little or no confidence in either the police or Mexico's unwieldly justice system. The largest group of the disappeared is aged 15 to 19, closely followed by the 20 to 24 year olds. Hundreds of clandestine burial sites are being uncovered nationwide, yet arrest rates remain pitifully low.Mexico's Drug War...
(Vatican Radio) During his special Saturday Jubilee Audience, Pope Francis gave a special greeting to a group of Bishops from Romania who led a pilgrimage to Rome for the Year of Mercy.Catholics are a minority in Romania, which is a majority-Orthodox nation. The Catholic Church is made up of both Latin-Rite and Eastern-Rite jurisdictions.“Dear brothers and sisters, working for mercy means to serve life and communion,” Pope Francis said.“Each of us can be a leaven of life and an instrument of communion in the family, at work, in the parish, and in the groups in which they belong,” – the Pope continued – “I invite you to be each day a visible sign of God's mercy, that will not leave anyone in solitude and need.”“Reinforced by prayer and works of charity, let us go forward together with all Christians on the path towards unity,” Pope Francis said.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday received a statue of St. Agnes of Bohemia from members of the National Jubilee Pilgrimage of the Czech Republic, which was led by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, the Archbishop emeritus of Prague.“As Patroness of the Czech Republic, St. Agnes of Bohemia is for me not only a symbol of Czech statehood, but also a symbol of mercy,” said Daniel Herman, the Minister of Culture for the Czech Republic, who is a member of the pilgrimage group. Although long venerated by the Czech people, St. Agnes was only canonized in 1989, by Pope St. John Paul II.The statue stands 1.6 metres tall, and weighs nearly 300 kilograms. It was made by students in the small town of Horice.During the Jubilee Audience, Pope Francis thanked them for the gift of the statue.“I wish you to live with Faith this Jubilee, rediscovering the beauty of practicing the works of mercy, which are concrete manifestation of God's love for each of His children,” P...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visited the Ground Zero memorial at the World Trade Center in New York on September 25th, 2015 – nearly a year ago to the day from this fifteenth anniversary of the attacks. During the course of his visit to the memorial site, the Holy Father offered a prayer of remembrance for the nearly 3 thousand victims of the atrocity committed by terrorists belonging to the Al Qaeda terror network.Below, please find the text of the prayer Pope Francis composed for the occasion of his visit********************************************O God of love, compassion, and healing,look on us, people of many different faithsand religious traditions,who gather today on this hallowed ground,the scene of unspeakable violence and pain.We ask you in your goodnessto give eternal light and peaceto all who died here:the heroic first-responders:our fire fighters, police officers,emergency service workers, andPort Authority personnel,along with all the innocent men and womenwho ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visited the Ground Zero memorial at the World Trade Center in New York City on Friday, September 25, 2015. Below, please find the full text of the remarks the Holy Father prepared for the occasion, and delivered to a special gathering of leaders from different religions and traditions of faith.************************************************ I feel many different emotions standing here at Ground Zero, where thousands of lives were taken in a senseless act of destruction. Here grief is palpable. The water we see flowing towards that empty pit reminds us of all those lives which fell prey to those who think that destruction, tearing down, is the only way to settle conflicts. It is the silent cry of those who were victims of a mindset which knows only violence, hatred and revenge. A mindset which can only cause pain, suffering, destruction and tears.The flowing water is also a symbol of our tears. Tears at so much devastation and ruin, past and prese...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on a seriously ill young man before his Saturday Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square.16-year-old Giuseppe Chiolo, a patient of the oncological department of the Meyer Hospital in Florence, travelled to the Vatican on Saturday morning aboard an ambulance.The Pope embraced Giuseppe before confirming him, and gifted him with a rosary as he asked the boy not to forget to pray for him.Giuseppe had recently written a letter to Pope Francis in which he revealed his strong desire to meet with the Pope; he was immediately invited to come to the Vatican.The Pope also had words of encouragement and comfort for Giuseppe’s parents and for his sister and aunt who were present in the Square together with the Chaplain of the Meyer Hospital and with the vice-director of the local Florentine Caritas office. He also thanked the three volunteers of Mercy who accompanied Giuseppe on his journey to Rome.During ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visited the Ground Zero memorial at the World Trade Center in New York on September 25th, 2015. During the course of his visit to the memorial site, the Holy Father offered a prayer of remembrance for the nearly 3 thousand victims of the attacks committed by terrorists belonging to the Islamic Al Qaeda terror network. Click below to hear our retrospective report “God of peace,” the Holy Father prayed, “bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth.”Pope Francis set a white rose at the edge of one of the two enormous infinity pools, around which the names of those who died in the attacks are etched in stone.He met the family members of some of the victims, including surviving members of the families of some of the hundreds of first responders who perished in their efforts to rescue the innocent and succor the injured."In his address to a gat...
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Over pizza and cupcakes, Jose Nunez implored a crowd of University of Iowa students to pull out their smartphones and start sharing with online friends their personal reasons for backing Hillary Clinton for president....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian government warplanes bombarded rebel-held areas around the country Saturday while insurgents shelled government-held neighborhoods in violence that left dozens killed or wounded hours after a new U.S.-Russia agreement was reached to try and reduce violence in the war-torn country....
