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IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore RomanoBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- An economic vision gearedsolely toward profit and material well-being has led to an economy of exclusionand inequality that has increased poverty andthe number of people discarded "as unproductive and useless,"Pope Francis said. The impact is clear even in the most developed countries where poverty and social decay "represent a seriousthreat to families, the shrinking middle class and in a particular way ouryoung people," the pope said May 13.The pope addressed businessleaders and experts in Catholicsocial teaching, who were attending an international conference on"business initiatives in the fight against poverty" sponsored by the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation.Establishedin 1993, the foundation seeks to promote the teaching of St. John Paul II's 1991 encyclical onsocial and economic justice.Recallinghis recent visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, the pope said the refugeecrisis was "especially ...
By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis "did not say heintends to introduce a diaconal ordination for women," and he certainlydid not speak about the ordination of women priests, the Vatican spokesmansaid.Pope Francis met members of the International Union ofSuperiors General, the leadership group for superiors of women's orders, May 12and accepted a proposal that he establish a commission to study the role of NewTestament deaconesses and the possibility of women serving as deacons today.After some news outlets reported the pope was consideringordaining women deacons and comments were made about women deacons leading towomen priests, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi issued a clarification May 13.The spokesman insisted "it is wrong to reduce all theimportant things the pope said to the religious women to just thisquestion."Women and the diaconate "is a question that has beendiscussed much, including in the past, and that comes from the fact that in theearly church there wer...
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The 17-year cicadas are coming again, millions of them, with their unnerving red eyes, orange wings and cacophonous mating song that can drown out the noise of passing jet planes....
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- Brazil's new finance minister said Friday that he'll tackle pension reform and labor law reform, signaling potentially sensitive changes for a sputtering economy a day after President Dilma Rousseff was suspended....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Back when Donald Trump's love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessman's personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once....
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competition for relying on political donors now wants their money - and lots of it....
(Vatican Radio) With the reform of the Vatican IOR making a landmark on Thursday, one possible way of putting into practice Pope Francis’ challenges to the 'globalization of indifference' in our global economy could be investment in funds for local infrastructure projects. The Vatican IOR on Thursday released its Annual Report on 2015, saying it’s now "impossible to launder money" through them.Fr. Seamus Finn of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate is the Board Chairman of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which comprises nearly 300 organizations and collectively represents over $100 billion in invested capital.Nearly a year on from the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, Devin Watkins spoke to Oblate Fr. Seamus Finn about how the Holy Father’s challenges to the global economy have been put into practice.Listen to the full interview: Laudato Si' in practiceFr. Finn said that several religiou...
(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, called for world leaders to “strike terrorism at its very roots and where it must primarily be fought: namely, in the hearts and minds of men and women,” especially the youth, who are at risk of radicalization and recruitment by terrorist groups.In his statement made on Wednesday to the UN Security Council Open Debate on Countering the Narratives and Ideologies of Terrorism, the Archbishop stated that while countering the “narratives and ideologies” of terrorist organizations is the responsibility of all, religious authorities have a particular responsibility to do so.“The fight to unmask the lies behind the narratives and ideologies of present-day terrorist groups” the Archbishop stated, calls for “all religions to unite in confronting not only the unacceptable misuse of religion by these groups, but also all forms of...
(Vatican Radio) It’s been 25 years since Pope St. John Paul II’s watershed encyclical on politics, economics, and society and to mark the occasion the Centesimus annus – pro Pontifice Foundation has organized a major international conference to mark this anniversary.The theme for this event which bring together leaders in commerce, industry, charity, relief, reconciliation, and peacebuilding is “Business Initiative in the Fight Against Poverty: The Refugee Emergency, our Challenge”, and it was on these themes of poverty and migration that Pope Francis took his cue when he addressed conference participants on Friday in the Vatican.Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report The Holy Father described to those gathered what he witnessed on his recent visit to the Greek island of Lesbos when he saw for himself the full scale of the refugee crisis.The Pope recalled, “heartrending scenes of human suffering, especially on the part of families and child...
(Vatican Radio) Bishop Ángel Ayuso Guixot addressed the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations this week in Tokyo about the need to protect minorities in Muslim majority states. The prelate quoted Pope Francis in his desire that the world be “be ever more attentive, sensitive and participant in face of persecutions carried out in dealings with Christians and, more in general, of religious minorities.”“The purpose of this High-Level Consultation” the Bishop stated, “should lead us all to invite to respect for all regardless of religious identity; commitment towards supporting citizenships rights of Christians in the Middle East; and engagement through dialogue.”The Bishop continued by raising various issues required in order to promote religious freedom, including promoting social justice, cooperating in the financial world situation and poverty, promoting interreligious dialogue, and upholding “fundamental principles o...
