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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday received a special white Table Tennis table with personalized paddles in an effort to promote UnPlugNPlay Day, which encourages family and friends to put away their computers, mobile phones, and other devices in order to have fun, and connect with those they love.The table tennis equipment was given to the Holy Father by Franco Sciannimanico, the President of the Italian Table Tennis Federation, and Robert Blackwell Jr., managing director of the American company Killerspin, which manufactures Table Tennis equipment.The two men said during the encounter, which took place shortly before the General Audience, Pope Francis recalled the role of table tennis in the 1970’s détente between China and the United States.This year, UnPlugNPlay Day will take place on August 29.
(Vatican Radio) The Jesuit Refugee Service together with other humanitarian agencies and the UN are pleading with the Kenya government to reverse its decision to clamp down on refugees citing security concerns.The government has already disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs. It says it is the first step in closing the enormous Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Garissa and Turkana counties.There are currently some 600,000 refugees in Kenya, most of them living in camps. Humanitarian organizations point out the closure of the camps would lead to dire consequences for hundreds of thousands of people.Angela Wells, the Jesuit Refugee Service Eastern Africa communications officer, told Linda Bordoni that JRS has released a joint statement with other NGOs providing assistance to refugees in Kenya asking the Government to reconsider its plans:Listen: Angela Wells says that JRS has not yet seen an implementation plan for the closure of Dadaab camp or how it could potenti...
(Vatican Radio) The Institute for Religious Works (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, released its Annual Report with a press release on Thursday showing it made a net profit of 16.1 million Euros in 2015. Speaking in an interview with Vatican media, the IOR’s Director General Gian Franco Mammì, said it’s now "impossible to launder money" there and pledged to continue the institute’s drive for reform, renewal and total transparency. As part as that reorganization drive, the Annual Report said a total of 4935 accounts held at the IOR were closed down last year and all “suspicious” accounts have been reported to the competent authorities. Mammì said the 2015 profits have been given to the Cardinals' Commission that supervises the IOR's activities and the Commission will "make sure" they are available for Pope Francis and his pastoral mission. In a roundtable interview with Vatican R...
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said on Thursday the foundations of the common home humanity shares “should be built upon the interconnectedness of our relationship with God, our neighbour, the environment and ourselves.”Cardinal Parolin was presenting the Latvian translation of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ during a visit to the Latvian capital, Riga.He said being “guardians” of “integral ecology” is a challenge “that arises from the presupposition that human beings, on the one hand, without a clear ethical orientation, run the risk of adopting lifestyle patterns leading to extremely self-destructive outcomes, and, on the other hand, have the possibility of opting for goodness and truth, and of opening themselves to beauty and the capacity to react.” The full text of Cardinal Parolin’s remarks are below Presentation of the Latvian translation of the Encyclic...
Sister Maria de Guadalupe belongs to the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word, which was founded by Father Carlos Miguel Buela in Argentina in 1988. Sr. Guadalupe, who is from Argentina, has been a missionary in several countries of the Middle East for over 18 years. Four of these years she has been in Syria. A few months after her arrival in Syria in 2011, the war began, something, Sr. Guadalupe said no one expected. Sr. Guadalupe was recently invited to share her testimony at a special event at the United Nations headquarters in New York on April 28, organized by Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. The event, co-sponsored by +Libres, CitizenGo and In Defence of Christians, had as its theme, “Defending religious freedom and other human rights: stopping mass atrocities against Christians and other believers.” Speaking in Spanish, with simultaneous translation in ...
(Vatican Radio) In a joint effort to promote understanding of Islamic teachings and the spread of moderate views, some 500 moderate Muslim leaders from 70 countries held a conference in Jakarta, sponsored by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest moderate Islamic organisation,The event followed the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Istanbul a few weeks ago. According to the organisers, Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country – must take a leading role in solving conflicts caused by poor interpretations of the Qur‘an, a fact that underlies violence in the Middle East, and attacks in Paris, Brussels, Ankara and Lahore.Indonesian President Joko Widodo was supposed to open the summit, but Vice President Jusuf Kalla took his place. For the VP, all moderate Islamic nations must promote peace in Islamic societies, as well as respect for non-Muslim communities.Noting Kalla’s concerns, NU Presid...
By Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The military mantra of "suckit up" and an intense love for the Catholic faith drove Cheryl Tobin toreach new heights -- the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica and a personal blessingfrom Pope Francis.Despite having stage 4 cancer, undergoing chemotherapyand missing a section from both thigh muscles, Tobin traveled to Rome, climbedcorkscrew staircases and did "the big wave" balanced on top of aplastic chair in order to catch the pope's attention."We were in the back of the crowd" at thepope's weekly general audience May 11 in St. Peter's Square, her husband, JimTobin, told Catholic News Service."I told her, 'You need to stand up on the chair andsuck it up.' People were looking at me, like, 'What a thing to say.' And then Itold her, 'Don't just wave. You've got to do the big wave.' That's when (theguards) pointed to her" to indicate she could come out from behind thebarricades and meet the pope."Everyone around us cheered. They only let her goup" to th...
By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis told the heads of women'sreligious orders from around the world that he would set up a commission tostudy the New Testament deaconesses and he also insisted more can and should bedone to involve lay and consecrated women in church decision-making at everylevel.Asked if he would establish "an official commission tostudy the question" of whether women could be admitted to the diaconate,Pope Francis responded: "I accept. It would be useful for the church toclarify this question. I agree."The pope spent more than an hour May 12 responding toquestions posed by members of the International Union of Superiors General,repeatedly asking if they wanted further clarification and making funny asidesor rephrasing his responses when it was clear they were not hitting the mark."I like hearing your questions because they make methink," the pope told close to 900 superiors general, representing almost500,000 sisters around the world. "I feel like a ...
NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC bosses weren't sure anyone would watch....
PARIS (AP) -- French prosecutors said Thursday that $2 million tied to Tokyo's winning bid for the 2020 Olympics was apparently paid to an account linked to the son of the disgraced former IAAF president in the months immediately before and after the Japanese capital won the games....
