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WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. military troops may be able to sidestep the Pentagon's entrenched, 100-year-old "up or out" promotion system under sweeping new proposals unveiled Thursday, aimed at keeping high-tech experts or other specialists on the job....
(Vatican Radio) In ten days' time, a historic meeting of leaders of the world's Orthodox Churches is due to begin on the Greek island of Crete. More than 350 bishops are expected to participate in the ?Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church' which will be chaired by the spiritual leader of the Orthodox world, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.Preparations have been in the works for several decades, but have intensified over recent months as Patriarch Bartholomew sought consensus on key documents from the 14 self-governing or ?Autocephalous' local Orthodox Churches. It has been an uphill and difficult task requiring delicate balances of interest, compromises and concessions, yet even over the past few days two Orthodox leaders have threatened to withdraw from the eight day encounter.Professor George Demakopoulos is co-director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in the United States. He spoke to Nicolas Papachristou about the...
(Vatican Radio) Health professionals are the “true personification” of mercy, Pope Francis said Thursday in his address to the Medical Associations of Spain and Latin America in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican. And, he says, it fits with the Jubilee of Mercy to express gratitude for those who through dedication and professionalism help those who suffer.Listen to Alexander MacDonald's report: The identity of the physician, the Pope said, relies not only on skills but mainly on a compassionate and merciful attitude towards those who suffer in body and spirit. Compassion is the very soul of medicine and compassion is not pity, it is suffering-with.He continued: Compassion is not always well received in our individualistic and highly technological culture because sometimes it is seen as a humiliation. There are even some who hide behind alleged compassion to justify killing a patient. True compassion, says Pope Francis, does not marginalize, humiliate or exclude and...
(Vatican Radio) As the Church in Indonesia prepares to host a series of major national and international events later this year and in 2017, we are spending time with Church leaders there, to learn more about the challenges they face and the hope they have for the success of their mission in their ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse country.Vatican Radio’s Stefano Leszczynski spoke recently with Bishop Antonius Franciskus Subianto Bunyamin, O.S.C., of Bandung diocese in West Java, who is also the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia. Bishop Bunyamin told us relations of the 100 thousand Catholic faithful with the Muslim majority population of his diocese are good, though not without difficulties, especially regarding church-building plans and projects. “In general, we don’t have any serious problem with Muslim groups,” he said, “in general they are peaceful and we have good relationships with them – bu...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis warned on Thursday against an excessive rigidity, saying those within the Church who tell us “it’s this or nothing” are heretics and not Catholics. His remarks came the morning Mass on Thursday celebrated at the Santa Marta residence.In his homily the Pope reflected on the harm caused by Churchmen who do the opposite of what they preach and urged them to free themselves from a rigid idealism that prevents reconciliation between each other.Taking his cue from Jesus’ warning to his disciples that unless their righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees they will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Pope Francis stressed the importance of Christian realism. Jesus, he said, asks us to go beyond the laws and love God and neighbour, stressing that whoever is angry with their brother will be liable to judgement. Insulting our brother is like giving a slap to his soulThe Pope said we have “a very creative...
Philadelphia, Pa., Jun 9, 2016 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A proposed Pennsylvania bill unfairly targets religious entities over public institutions – despite its claim to aid sex abuse victims, says Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.“The problem with HB 1947 is its prejudicial content. It covers both public and religious institutions – but in drastically different and unjust ways. The bill fails to support all survivors of abuse equally, and it’s a clear attack on the Church, her parishes and her people,” the archbishop said in a June 6 letter to the parishioners of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.He charged that the bill poses “serious dangers” to Catholic parishes and ministries.“In other states where similar legislation passed, local parishes have been sued, resulting in parish and school closures and charity work being crippled,” the archbishop wrote.The proposed legislation could “erase the sacrif...
BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Latest on the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, Libya and Syria (all times local):...
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel on Thursday imposed a series of sweeping restrictions on Palestinian movement and deployed hundreds of additional troops to the West Bank in response to a Tel Aviv attack that killed four Israelis....
Baghdad, Iraq, Jun 9, 2016 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Iraqi Muslims celebrating Ramadan will have the prayers of Chaldean Catholics, Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako of Babylon has said.The Chaldean patriarch said that “We as a Church … bind our wishes with yours, expressing our solidarity, sincere feelings, respect and prayers from the bottom of our hearts that God may watch over Iraq and protect Iraqis.”He said Chaldean Catholics will pray for Muslims so that “your fasting and praying will enlighten and direct the hearts of all Iraqis toward the birth of a new Iraq, in which all its citizens will be treated equally, safeguard their dignity and bring them security and stability.”Ramadan is a Muslim month of fasting intended to commemorate the revelation of the Quran to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. This year, it lasts from June 5-July 5. It ends with the holiday Eid al-Fitr, which breaks the fast.The Iraq-based Chaldean Catholic Church has about 500,0...
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Every year on the same day, Muhammad Babar plans to walk past a soaring clock tower that juts 180 feet toward the sky, through a gate and into Cave Hill Cemetery, one of his city's greatest wonders....
