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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is condemning "any and all forms of violence" in the aftermath of a chaotic Democratic party gathering in Nevada last weekend but says the party needs to understand that millions of Americans are "outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics."...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given an exclusive interview to the French Catholic La Croix newspaper. In the broad-ranging conversation with journalists Guillaume Goubert and Sébastien Maillard for La Croix, Pope Francis discussed matters ranging from healthy secularism and the right way to understand and live according to the Church’s universal missionary mandate, to the idea of Europe in relation to the migration crisis and the possibility of peaceful coexistence among Muslims and Christians. He also addressed the clergy sex abuse crisis, offering considerations about an ongoing investigation – widely covered in France – involving the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, whose handling of the case of one pedophile priest in particular has been subject to scrutiny and criticism. La Croix has now published an English translation of the interview, available here.
The Council of Interreligious Dialogue in Pakistan organized a seminar in Lahore on the occasion of the Jubilee Year of Mercy coordinated by Fr. Francis Nadeem OFM Cap, and led by Islamist leader Sufi Pir Shafaat Rasool.The seminar titled “The mercy in Christianity and Islam” held in recent weeks, focused on the common values present in Islam and Christianity.As reported to Fides by the Council, Fr. Qaisar Feroz, among the Christian leaders who intervened, quoted several passages from the Old and New Testaments on mercy, recalling that "God is merciful and wants us to be merciful". While we focus too often on facts that "fuel hatred and differences, there is a dire need to create situations of peace, tolerance, forgiveness and mercy", he said, noting that "the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis is of utmost importance for the whole world", and is "an invitation to building a culture of mercy, common value for Islam and Christian...
(Vatican Radio) Nearly one in four of the world’s school-aged children are in desperate need of educational support, with only 2% of funds from humanitarian appeals being directed at education.This is why the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is launching #EmergencyLessons, a new international campaign, aimed at highlighting the importance of education for children in countries affected by conflict and natural disaster worldwide. The campaign focuses on the real-life experiences of children living in these countries, and the lengths they go to in order to obtain an education.The global launch took place at the Torquato Tasso high school in Rome, where students heard from a variety of speakers. Georgia Gogarty attended the event and spoke with Marilena Viviani, Director of the Geneva Liason Office for UNICEF; Samantha Cristoforetti, Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and Italian European Space Agency astronaut; and Laurence Argimon-Pistre, the Ambassador and Hea...
Further details have emerged concerning the so called “Vatileaks II” trial, investigating how various confidential documents were leaked to Italian journalists in the year 2015.The Holy See Press office issued a six page summary of the court proceedings, where particular focus was given to contents of mobile phone messages and emails from Mons. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, one of the accused parties. At the time of the leaks, Mons. Vallejo was an official working in the Organisation for Ecomonic-Administrative structure of the Holy See (COSEA).Much of the Monday 16th May’s testimony came from Gianluca Guazzi, Commissioner of the Vatican Gendarmes corps. The Commissioner told the court about 110 thousand Euro being spent on a computer server to hold all of COSEA’s documents. He also pointed out that the computer systems consultant was Corrado Lanino, husband of the accused Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, and that until recently, no superior in the Vatican had k...
(Vatican Radio) Anglican and Catholic theologians, meeting in Toronto, Canada this week, have agreed on the publication of their first ARCIC III document on the theme “Towards a Church fully reconciled”. The volume, which is likely to be published in the autumn, uses the ‘Receptive Ecumenism’ approach to look at the limitations within each communion and see how one Church can help the other grow towards the fullness of faith.The third Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) is holding its sixth annual meeting from May 11th to 19th, hosted by the Anglican sisters of St John the Divine in Toronto. The 18 members of the Commission have completed work on the first part of their mandate, exploring tensions between the local and Universal Church within the two communions, and are continuing discussions on a second volume, looking at how Anglicans and Catholics make difficult moral and ethical decisions.To find out more about the meeting, Phil...
Santiago, Chile, May 17, 2016 / 06:04 am (CNA).- With a Mass celebrated in the chapel where he used to pray, former soccer star Chase Hilgenbrinck was reunited recently with the faithful, friends and fans – not as a soccer star, but as a priest.An American, Chase Hilgenbrinck was a successful pro soccer player who spent four seasons in Chile before returning to the U.S. He played for the New England Revolution before experiencing a call to the priesthood and leaving behind his soccer career to enter seminary.In 2014, he was ordained a priest in the diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where he currently serves.After being away from Chile for nine years, Father Chase returned to the city of Chillán in the southern part of the country, where he played on first division teams for three years.He thanked the more than 600 faithful who attended the Eucharist he celebrated on May 7 in Santa Ana chapel, “especially the Chillán community that supported me before and who fee...
By Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY(CNS) -- Those whoseek only power and greatness, especially within the church, follow a differentpath than Jesus, who toldhis disciples to serve and not to be served, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.PreachingMay 17 during Mass in his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope said Jesus speaks a language ofhumiliation, death and redemption, while others "speak the language ofclimbers" who only thinking of rising to the top of the heap. "The greatest is the onewho serves the most, the one who is always at the service of others, not theones who boast, who seek power, money, vanity and pride,"he said, according to Vatican Radio.Thepope focused his homily on the day's Gospel reading (Mk. 9:30-37), in which thedisciples argued about who was the greatest among them. "Ifanyone wishes to be first, he shall bethe last of all and the servant of all," Jesus tells them.The popesaid that although the disciples were tempted to think in a worldly way, ...
By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Governments work best when they aresecular, not confessional, but they must give ample space for people to expresstheir religious beliefs, including by respecting the right of conscientiousobjection, Pope Francis told the French Catholic newspaper La Croix.While legislatures must "discuss, argue, explain (and)reason" about legal solutions to complex issues, including euthanasia andsame-sex marriage, "once a law has been adopted, the state must alsorespect consciences," the pope said in the interview published May 16."The right to conscientious objection must be recognized within each legalstructure because it is a human right -- including for a government official,who is a human person."National governments, he said, "must be secular.Confessional states end badly."But a truly secular democracy fully respects the religiousfreedom of its citizens, including their right to publicly express their faith,the pope said. "Everyone must have the freedom ...
BEIRUT (AP) -- The Russian military is constructing a new army base in the central Syrian town of Palmyra, within the protected zone that holds the archaeological site listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site and without asking for permission from relevant authorities, an American heritage organization and a top Syrian archaeologist said Tuesday....
