Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines is praying for the victims of the explosion that hit a city night market in Davao, southern Philippines. Davao is the hometown of the current president Rodrigo Duterte: 14 people died in the attack, at least 60 were wounded. In a note Msgr. Socrates Villegas, president of the Philippine Bishops Conference (CBCP), strongly condemns the brutal attack and stresses that "when a fellow dies, a part of humanity dies at the same time."Among the victims - on the night of September 2 - there are also a pregnant woman and a small child. According to the Philippine authorities the Islamic extremist militia Abu Sayyaf, active in the south of the country, is to blame for the attack although at first the suspects had focused on drug traffickers.The President, who was in this area at the time of the attack, has declared a "state of lawlessness". The measure does not involve martial law, but checkpoints are predisposed in the area a...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has blessed a statue of Our Lady of Aparecida in the Vatican gardens, and prayed that Brazil and its people may be entrusted to her care.During the inauguration ceremony, the Pope said it will not be possible to return this year to Aparecida, where he visited in 2013 for World Youth Day in Rio, but at least he will have the Marian image close by.He called for prayers to Our Lady for all the people of Brazil, especially the poor, the “discarded, the abandoned elderly, the children on the street.”The Holy Father prayed for Mary to save these people “with social justice and the love for Christ.”Pope Francis noted how the original statue of Our Lady of Aparecida had been discovered by poor workers. He prayed that, today, may it be “discovered by everyone, in a special way those who need work, education, those who are deprived of dignity.”Present at the ceremony were Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparec...
"We are grateful to God and to Pope Francis, who proclaimed the Year of mercy and chose Mother Teresa as an 'icon of mercy'. Mother Teresa’s canonization is an opportunity to spread the message of the Gospel and God’s mercy: we hope that the grace of mercy reaches every human being, especially the poorest and most desperate": says says Sister Mary Prema Pierick, Superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, on the eve of the celebration to be held on September 4 at the Vatican, where Mother Teresa will be proclaimed a saint.The Superior, a 63-year-old German religious, speaking to Agenzia Fides notes that "the message and work of Mother Teresa is fully present and will exist until there is a suffering humanity, humiliated, outcast in the world". Her work today "continues thanks to the Missionaries of Charity, the Brothers of Charity (priests) but also to all men and women of good will who continue to serve the poor, the ma...
(Vatican Radio) Thousands of volunteers and “workers of mercy” took part in a special Jubilee Audience with Pope Francis on Saturday morning in St Peter’s Square.Following a morning of song and dance, with testimonies from volunteers from all over the world, Pope Francis spoke on the theme of love, basing his reflection on the St Paul’s hymn to love from the First Letter to the Corinthians.“This teaching must be for us an unshakable certainty,” the Pope said: “The love of God will never diminish in our lives or in history.” God’s love, he said, is “youthful, active, dynamic” and has “an attraction beyond all telling.” It is faithful and fruitful.The Holy Father emphasized strongly that the love St Paul speaks about is neither abstract nor vague, “rather, “it is seen, touched, and experienced first-hand” – and the greatest expression of this love is Jesus Himself. Jesus shows us th...
Vatican City, Sep 3, 2016 / 04:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Mercy is not an abstract idea, but is rather expressed in concrete actions of love toward the poor and needy, who in their daily lives walk the same path of Calvary that Jesus did, Pope Francis has said.“Love is the highest expression of life; it allows us to exist!” the Pope said Sept. 3, speaking to an audience of workers and volunteers of mercy present for a special Jubilee in their honor.When confronted with this “truth of the faith,” the Church, he said, “cannot look away and turn her back on the many forms of poverty that cry out for mercy… Calvary is always real; it has not disappeared at all, nor does it remain with us merely as a nice painting in our churches.”To walk by and ignore the man dying on the side of the road, he said, “is a serious sin! It’s a modern sin, it’s the sin of today!”“We Christians cannot allow ourselves to be like this,&rdquo...
Rimini, Italy, Sep 3, 2016 / 05:50 am (CNA).- To overcome conflicts, to fight hatred with goodness, to make Ukraine a free and European country: these are the tasks of the Catholic Church in Ukraine, according to a priest with knowledge of the situation.Christians in Ukraine are facing a difficult experience. Despite the near-constant conflict, the humanitarian emergency Ukrainian Christians face has disappeared from the world’s sight.Ukrainian priest Fr. Oleksandr Khalayim spoke about the situation at a meeting in Rimini, Italy hosted by Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic ministry that supports the Church in areas where it is persecuted.But how exactly is the Church persecuted in Ukraine? While Ukrainian Christians have been key supporters of Ukrainian independence, the Greek-Catholic Church of Ukraine has been keen to state that it wishes to be close to all the people, and not take a political position.“The persecution of the Church in Ukraine has las...
GENEVA (AP) -- With war trumping peace efforts in recent weeks in Syria, U.N.-mediated talks sputtered over another missed deadline to resume this past week. Analysts say patience is waning and prospects for a deal brokered by the United Nations are wearing increasingly thin....
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis is urging people to resist what "the temptation to indifference" to suffering in a speech on the eve of a ceremony to formally proclaim Mother Teresa a saint....
HANGZHOU, China (AP) -- Setting aside their cyber and maritime disputes, President Barack Obama and China's President Xi Jinping on Saturday sealed their nations' participation in last year's Paris climate change agreement. They hailed their new era of climate cooperation as the best chance for saving the planet....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the players and staff of the AS Roma soccer club, along with the players and staff of his own favorite Argentine San Lorenzo de Almagro club on Friday.Click below to hear our report AS Roma is to face San Lorenzo in a friendly contest on Saturday afternoon.All proceeds from the friendly, are to be donated to the ongoing earthquake relief effort in central Italy, which was struck on August 24th by a temblor that killed nearly 300 people and caused massive devastation.“Thanks for your visit,” Pope Francis told the clubs, “and thanks for your generosity in giving to the earthquake victtims.”The audience took place a day ahead of the Festival of the Family organized by Roma as part of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.A note in English on the AS Roma website announcing the special audience notes that the Family Festival – which will be held at Rome’s Olympic Stadium – comes a...
