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An Indian Catholic priest spearheading a campaign for cornea donation has invited Pope Francis to pledge his corneas to inspire others to help the blind. Claretian Father George Kannanthanam's appeal, which asked the Pope to pledge his corneas to mark World Sight Day on Oct. 13, was handed to Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio on Aug. 10. "Your one act will inspire millions of people around the world to emulate," read Father Kannanthanam's appeal to the Pope. "Sight will be the best gift you could give to the world in the Year of Mercy," said the appeal.Father Kannanthanam who founded Project Vision a year ago to create awareness about cornea donation, told UCANEWS that India needs around 140,000 cornea transplants every year but currently only 30,000-40,000 corneas are collected. Media reports say thee are some 39 million blind people worldwide with more than 15 million of them in Indi...
Sri Lanka took a major step towards truth and national reconciliation on Thursday when its parliament passed a law to establish an office to trace people who disappeared during a 26-year war and another insurrection. The law was passed without a vote. It will enable independent investigation of thousands of cases of missing people, measures to trace them and protection of their rights and interests and those of their relatives. "We have brought this to correct the past mistakes in history," Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera presenting the bill told the parliament. Meanwhile, supporters of former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who allege that the move was to prosecute the military, protested wearing black bands and shawls. Rajapaksa, who lost to Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015 and is now an opposition legislator, was out of the country on Thursday. But Samaraweera said the government was trying to safeguard the military by ...
Berlin, Germany, Aug 12, 2016 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Vatican bishop spoke out last week stressing that while few Muslims are terrorists, there are passages in the Quran advocating violence that can’t be ignored, and must be clarified from within the Muslim community.“It would be naive to pretend that there are not certain episodes in the Koran and the Hadith that may lend themselves to a violent interpretation,” Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, said Aug. 5.He added that “how the Muslim community worldwide can give a peaceful hermeneutic to these passages is a task which I imagine will be made more difficult with too much pressure ‘from outside,’” and that thus “I wouldn't dream of telling Muslims how to interpret their faith.”“But those who want to work towards that end from within will find a strong ally and friend in the Catholic Church, ready to ac...
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia delivered a stunning start to track and field at the Olympics with a world record in the 10,000 meters Friday, wiping away the competition just after the halfway point and striding to victory with effortless grace....
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Egyptian judo fighter Islam El Shehaby was loudly booed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after his first-round loss to Israel's fifth-ranked Or Sasson, when El Shehaby refused to shake Sasson's hand, in a major breach of judo etiquette....
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- A 62-year-old Florida woman is charged with aggravated manslaughter after authorities said her 6-year-old son beat his newborn sister to death while the children and their 3-year-old brother were left alone in the family's minivan....
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday fired Sergei Ivanov, his chief of staff and one of his closest allies, in the Kremlin's most high-profile power reshuffling in years....
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- After days of alleging repeatedly that President Barack Obama literally founded the Islamic State group, Donald Trump abruptly shifted tone on Friday and insisted his widely debunked claim had been sarcastic....
Vatican Weekend for August 13, 2016 begins with a look at what Pope Francis had to say at the General Audience: open the doors of our hearts and rise up to God’s compassion this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Then, Fr. Peter Stravinskas takes us to the Holy Land to reflect on Our Lady’s Assumption into Heaven. The programme concludes with a focus segment on another holy woman of the Church: Edith Stein or Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. In an interview with Veronica Scarisbrick, Discalced Carmelite Father Ulrich Dobhan sheds light on this remarkable saint from wartime Germany…Listen to this programme presented and produced by Tracey McClure:
