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(Vatican Radio) The recently elected President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has expressed regret after insulting US President Barack Obama with a crude expression – one that prompted the White House to cancel talks scheduled between the two leaders.In the wake of the incident, the spokesman for the Duterte administration told reporters the President looks forward to “ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions,” according to an official statement released Tuesday.Click below to hear our report Obama had previously said he planned on confronting Duterte over his administration’s methods in their fight against drug traffickers – methods that have included a major increase in apparently extra-judicial killings – as many as 2 thousand of them according to some estimates, since Duterte took office on June 30th.
Eastern India’s Odisha state, that was the theatre of one of the most atrocious anti-Christian violence in the nation’s history, commemorated the sainthood of Mother Teresa of Calcutta on Sunday by naming a new road after her in the state capital, Bhubaneshwar. Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik on Sept. 4 inaugurated the Satyanagar Flyover Road that connects Janpath Road with Cuttack-Puri Road, renaming it Saint Mother Teresa Road. On August 28, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had declared to re-name the road at the request of the Odisha Bishops' Regional Council (OBRC) chairman Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar on behalf of Missionaries of Charity. Inaugurating the road, Patnaik paid tribute to the new saint saying, “All through her life, Mother Teresa has served the unserved. She was the quintessence of compassion.” In the latest book on her, entitled, “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,” the ...
(Vatican Radio) The Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, Michel Roy, said the incidence of human trafficking is on the rise worldwide and stressed the need "to re-humanize our society." He said the scourge of trafficking is increasing for a number of reasons, including growing poverty and increased secularization and the accompanying decline in morality and ethics that this brings. Roy’s comments came at an international conference against human trafficking held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The three day conference was co-organized by the Pontifical Council of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant People and Caritas Internationalis as one of the members of the COATNET network (Christian Organizations against Trafficking in Human Beings). Roy was interviewed by Susy Hodges.Listen to the interview with Michel Roy of Caritas Internationalis: Hosted by Caritas Nigeria, the conference was aiming to create stronger links between concerned...
Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; I Tm 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32A divorced woman found herself struggling with an increasingly rebellious teenage daughter. It all came to a head late one night when the police called her to pick up her daughter who had been arrested for drunk driving. The two of them didn't speak on the way home or next day either, until at last the mother broke the tension by giving her daughter a small, gift-wrapped package. The girl opened it with an air of indifference and found inside a small rock. "Well, that's cute, Mom. What is it?" "Read the card, dear," the mother replied. As the girl did so, tears began to trickle down her cheeks, and she gave her mom a hug as the card fell to the floor. On the card her mother had written: "This rock is more than 200 million years old. That's how long it'll take before I give up on you." That's what Jesus is telling us about God in today&r...
A leading Catholic bishop of the Philippines has urged the public to speak out against the spate of drug-related killings in the country even as he described the trafficking of narcotics as murder. "Narcotics kill dreams and hopes, drugs ruin lives and families, drugs destroy society and nations," said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan in a pastoral letter on Sept. 4. The prelate however, said that while society must be protected from drug dealers, killing offenders is not the way to fight criminality. "We can fight criminality without killing the offenders. Who are we to judge that this offender is hopeless?" said Archbishop Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). "Death ends all possibilities to change," he said. "The goal of justice is not revenge. The goal of justice is restoration of harmony." The archbishop's message was read in all churches in his arc...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday encouraged the President of the Vatican’s ‘Bambino Gesù’ pediatric hospital to continue to promote the institution’s good work and promised his personal contribution.In the course of a private audience with Mariella Enoc – at the head of the children’s hospital since February 2015 – the Pope assured her of his continuing support and said the hospital must evermore be a ‘great work of mercy’.Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: During the heart-to-heart conversation that ‘Bambino Gesù’ President Mariella Enoc said took place in an atmosphere of great friendliness and intimacy, Pope Francis expressed deep interest in an ongoing charity project that sees the Vatican institution actively supporting the Pediatric Hospital of Bangui, in the Central African Republic.“The Pope even pledged his personal help ” – she told Vatican Radio - “an...
The United Nations chief urged Sri Lanka last week to do more to redress wrongs committed during 26 years of war with Tamil rebels, including returning land and restoring the accountability of the judiciary and security services. On a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday praised the efforts of President Maithripala Sirisena's administration since coming to power last year to address some rights abuses committed during the war. "But more can and should be done to address the legacy of the past and acknowledge the voices of the victims," he told a gathering in Colombo, without mentioning the army or the rebels. "Sri Lanka is still in the early stages of regaining its rightful position in the region and the international community."Dozens of Sri Lankan nationalists, who back ousted president Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Thursday protested against Ban's visit, demandi...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Love for those society considers"useless" or even a bother led St. Teresa of Kolkata to a courageousdefense of the unborn, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin.Like prophets and saints before her, Mother Teresa would not"kneel down before anyone but the Almighty" and would not bow before"the fashions or idols of the moment," said Cardinal Parolin, Vaticansecretary of state.On the 19th anniversary of Mother Teresa's death, Sept. 5 --her feast day -- the cardinal presided over a Mass in St. Peter's Square togive thanks for the canonization of the founder of the Missionaries of Charity.With hundreds of Missionaries of Charity gathered on thesteps of St. Peter's Basilica and several thousand pilgrims in the square,Cardinal Parolin held Mother Teresa up as "a gleaming mirror of God's loveand a marvelous example of service to one's neighbor."Her example, the cardinal said, is a call to all Christians"to convert from being lukewarm and me...
The Northeast's fall foliage dazzles locals and draws millions of tourists, but many flock to the same tired vantage points....
XENIA, Ohio (AP) -- A former Stanford University swimmer whose six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked a national outcry has registered as a sex offender in Ohio, where he's living with his parents....
