Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis surprised German-speaking pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, when he greeted them at the end of the weekly General Audience with a few improvised words in their native tongue.“I am pleased to welcome the pilgrims from German-speaking countries and the Netherlands,” began the Holy Father, adding, “I greet in particular the faithful of the Diocese of Passau.” At that point, the Holy Father departed from his prepared remarks to invoke Our Lady, who has a famous shrine in Passau, which is a suffragan diocese of Munich and Friesing.“You call to mind the Virgin of Altötting,” he said.Pope Benedict XVI visited the shrine – the national shrine of the old Kingdom of Bavaria – during his 2006 trip, which also took him to Munich and Regensburg.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday greeted Ricardo Quaresma, a member of Portugal’s national football team which won the European Championship this summer. The encounter happened during the weekly General Audience.The player brought Pope Francis a Portuguese national team shirt with the name “Francisco” and number “20” on the back. On Twitter and on his Facebook page before the meeting, Quaresma posted a photo of himself holding the shirt, with the caption “I am in the Vatican and bring a gift for Pope Francis. Do you think he is going to like it?”Quaresma plays winger for the Turkish club Besiktas.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis invoked St. Teresa of Calcutta on Wednesday, in his final words to pilgrims and tourists before imposing his Apostolic Blessing at the end of the weekly General Audience.“This past Sunday, we celebrated the caononisation of Mother Teresa of Calcutta,” said Pope Francis in special greetings to the sick, to young people, and to newlyweds in St. Peter’s Square for the occasion.“Dear young people,” he continued, “become like her: artisans of mercy.”
Vatican City, Sep 7, 2016 / 08:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday, Pope Francis warned against making Jesus into the person we want him to be, and thus creating obstacles to a true relationship with Christ and his mercy.“The admonition of Jesus is always present: even today man constructs images of God that prevent him from enjoying his real presence,” the Pope said during the general audience Sept. 7.“Some carve out a 'do it yourself' faith that reduces God in the limited space of their own desires and their own beliefs. But this faith is not conversion to the Lord that is revealed, in fact, it prevents him from arousing our life and our conscience.”In his catechesis, Pope Francis named several different ways in which people create false images of God, such as those who invoke his name in defense of their own interests, or in the interest of hatred and violence, or those who deny Christ's divinity, considering him just a good ethical teacher an...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God did not send his son into theworld to cast off the wicked but to offer them a path to conversion through mercyand love, PopeFrancis said.Those who object to Jesus' mercy toward sinners oftencreate an "imageof God that impedes them from enjoying his real presence," the pope said Sept. 7 at his weeklygeneral audience. "Some carve out a 'do-it-yourself' faith thatreduces God to the limited space of their own desires and their ownconvictions," the pope said. "Others reduce God to a false idol;using his holy name to justify their own interests or even to incite hatred andviolence."An estimated 25,000 people attended the audience in St. Peter's Square; many visitorswere in Rome for the Sept. 4 canonization of St. Teresa of Kolkata. Before delivering his final blessing the pope called onyoung people to follow her example and be "artisans of mercy." He asked those who areill "to feel her compassionate closeness, especi...
LONDON (AP) -- Britain hopes a 4 meter-high (13 foot-high) concrete wall will succeed where security guards and barbed wire have failed, and stop migrants reaching the U.K. from the northern French port of Calais....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The U.S. Navy again has accused Iranian patrol boats of harassing an American warship in the Persian Gulf, this time with a Revolutionary Guard vessel nearly causing a collision with the USS Firebolt. Why does this keep happening?...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was time to purge the hacker from the U.S. government's computers....
CIUDAD DE MEXICO (AP) -- A government spokeswoman says Treasury Minister Luis Videgaray has resigned after Donald Trump's visit to Mexico....
(Vatican Radio) Gabon's president, Ali Bongo, came under international scrutiny on Tuesday as a European Union mission questioned the validity of his narrow re-election victory, France recommended a recount, and the African Union said it will send mediators to the country.Meanwhile, the Bishops of Gabon called for the intervention of an international mediator to bring the country out of a political crisis following the disputed presidential elections of 27 August.Listen to Christopher Wells’ report: In a message addressed to the nation, the Bishops said that “in the face of opposing positions, we are inspired to African wisdom, according to which when two brothers fight, it is essential to involve a third party as a mediator”. The letter, sent to the Agenzia Fides news service, was signed by Archbishop Basile Mve Engone of Libreville.After recalling that Gabon has exercised this role in several African crises, Archbishop Mve Engone said: “our Country ha...
