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(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Thursday released the programme for Pope Francis’ 27-31 July visit to Poland for the 31st World Youth Day celebrations. The Pope will depart from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 2 p.m. and will arrive at the John Paul II airport of Balice-Krakow two hours later. After the welcome ceremony he will transfer to the Castle of Wawel, where he will address the civil authorities and diplomatic corps, followed by a courtesy visit to the president of the Republic. The Pope's first day in Poland will conclude with a meeting with bishops in Krakow Cathedral.In the early morning of Thursday 28 July he will visit the Convent of the Sisters of the Presentation on the way to the airport, and at 8.30 a.m. he will transfer by helicopter to Czestochowa where, in the monastery of Jasna Gora, he will pray in the chapel of the Black Virgin before celebrating Holy Mass in the Shrine of Czestochowa on the occasion of the 1,050th anniversary of the bapt...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has decided to set up a committee to oversee the distribution of money to Ukrainians who are affected by the conflict in the east of the nation. The money was collected by Catholic churches across Europe on Sunday 24th April in response to a personal appeal by the Pope. The setting up of the committee came just days before a scheduled visit to Ukraine by the (Vatican) Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.Speaking to journalists, the Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, said the money would be distributed to all those impacted by Ukraine’s conflict, regardless of their religion or ethnic group. He said the committee will consist of a President, Jan Sobilo, auxiliary Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia, and four other members and its mandate will run for one year and will be renewed if deemed necessary. Experts say there are more than 1.7 million displaced people in Ukraine as a result of the con...
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See’s Permanent Representative to UN offices in Vienna, Msgr. Janusz Urbanczyk, has urged the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe to pay greater attention to discrimination against Europe’s Christians and to work in unison to promote tolerance and the integration of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants arriving on Europe’s shores.Msgr. Urbanczyk, who also represents the Holy See at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, offered his observations in a statement 9 June at the 1104th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.Below, please find the text of Msgr. Urbanczyk’s statement:Statement re: Address by Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.Mr. Chairman,The ...
By Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A "my way or the highway"attitude is not Catholic -- it's heretical, Pope Francis said."Jesus always walks with us, he gives us the ideal,he accompanies us toward the ideal, he frees us from this cage of rigidity ofthe law," the pope said June 9 during a morning Mass in the chapel of theDomus Sanctae Marthae.Jesus teaches "a healthy realism," he said, onethat endorses a peaceful resolution over a war of entrenched, opposinginterests. The pope's homily focused on the day's Gospel reading (Mt5:20-26) in which Jesus tells his disciples to settle with their opponents andbe reconciled with their brothers because they will be judged for harboringanger and lobbing insults."We are so used to (certain) adjectives and we havea very creative vocabulary for insulting others," the pope said, accordingto Vatican Radio. Swear words, he said, are often spoken "with muchcharity, but we say them to others."Insulting others is "killing, because it is giving aslap t...
By Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis will visit the Nazideath camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau during his visit to Poland for WorldYouth Day in Krakow.He will also commemorate the 1,050th anniversary ofChristianity in Poland, pray at the icon of the "Black Madonna" ofCzestochowa, and hear confessions and have lunch with some of the youngpeople attending the youth day gathering.The pope's visit July 27-31 will be his 15th trip outsideof Italy. He will visit three cities, give eight speeches and celebrate threeMasses. Pope Francis will be visiting Auschwitz the year thatmarks the 75th anniversary of the death of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who offeredhis life for another prisoner at the camp during World War II. The official WYDwebsite, krakow2016.com, said the pope is expected to meet with camp survivorsand pray alone in the bunker where Father Kolbe had been locked up. While the pope will be meeting with Polish governmentauthorities as well as bishops and religious from Poland...
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Two suicide attacks in and around the Iraqi capital on Thursday killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens, officials said....
NEW YORK (AP) -- A new power player has emerged among the feuding factions behind Donald Trump's presidential campaign, one that through the bonds of marriage enjoys a direct line to the Republican billionaire....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With calls growing for him to quit, Bernie Sanders came to the White House on Thursday for a meeting that President Barack Obama hoped to use to try to nudge the Vermont senator to accept defeat in the Democratic race. Obama planned to endorse Hillary Clinton after the meeting....
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- Dozens of FedEx jets queue up for takeoff at the airport here. Beale Street, the heart of the music district, hums with tourists. Yet the empty storefronts in Memphis' moribund downtown and the cash-advance shops strewn near its highways tell another story....
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....
