Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a telegramme to Italian Archbishop Michele Pennisi of Monreale in Sicily for the 750th anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of Monreale.Signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the telegramme was read out during the Eucharistic celebration, which took place in the Basilica on Wednesday to mark the event, by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI).In the telegramme, Pope Francis greeted those present and expressed his hopes that the anniversary “elicit ever more conscious adhesion to Christ and generous participation in the life of the Christian community”.The Pope also invoked the intercession of the “Mother of the Redeemer for copious divine graces” upon those celebrating the anniversary of three-quarter millennia.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will celebrate Holy Mass on the morning of 7 May 2017, the 4th Sunday of Easter, during which he will ordain several transitional deacons to the priesthood.The Vatican’s Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff made the announcement on Thursday.The Rite for the Ordination to the Priesthood will take place at 9:15 AM in St. Peter’s Basilica.Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, will concelebrate with the Holy Father, along with the Vicegerente of Rome, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, and the Auxiliary Bishops of Rome.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis travels to Cairo on Friday for his 18th visit abroad. The two-day journey to Egypt will include a meeting with the Coptic Orthodox leader, Pope Tawadros II, and will show solidarity with the Christian minority just weeks after the Palm Sunday Coptic church attacks.Vatican Radio’s Stefano Leszcynski spoke with Missionary Comboni Sister Samiha about the predicted reaction of the Pope’s presence in Egypt.Sister Samiha, the principal at St. Joseph’s Catholic school in Cairo, hopes the Pope’s visit will foster tolerance and act as an example of acceptance and love despite religious differences in the nation.Listen to the report by Colleen Knudsen: “Egypt is the land of peace and Egypt is considered the holy land because the holy family take place in Egypt. Also, this visit of Pope Francis to Egypt, I think, to increase the respect between all people in different religions, and to increase also tolerance and to be merciful to on...
When it comes to alcohol, Fr. Charles Searson, a Jesuit priest in Zambia for many years, is unequivocal.“There is a very clear nuance in the Bible,” says Fr. Searson. “Wine is enjoyable –one glass. Too much wine, too much alcohol; too much Whisky and you get drunk, that’s very wrong.” Fr Searson said this in discussion with Vatican Radio. He says that the Bible has both a positive and negative message when it comes to alcohol.“God gave us wine to make us happy. That’s Psalm 104 verse 15.” He then adds, “St. Paul in the letter to the Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 18 has a clear message: Don’t get drunk.” Put differently, says Fr. Searson, it is not unChristian to drink but very unChristian to get drunk.Fr. Searson is Zambia’s National Director of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart. It is an international Catholic organisation. The association does not advocate for the prohibiti...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday travels to Cairo to meet with Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar university. The pope will spend just over 24 hours in the Egyptian capital, where he’ll also meet with the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II and leaders of the small Catholic community there.At al-Azhar university Pope Francis will speak at an international peace conference which the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is also be attending. His visit to the prestigious Islamic institution comes just two months after the resumption of talks between the university and a Vatican delegation.Professor Gabriel Said Reynolds teaches Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame in the United States and was a member of the Catholic delegation for the talks at al-Azhar in February, which came after years of tension and mistrust between the two sides.Philippa Hitchen spoke to Professor Reynolds to find out more about the impact ...
Hundreds of young Filipinos on April 22 gathered in Manila, for a night of music, dancing and testimonials in what its Jesuit organizers dubbed as "One Praise," an annual youth worship that brings together Christian youth bands."We come from different communities, different parishes, but we come here united," said Father Roseller Atilano, director of the Jesuit Music Ministry, who spearheaded the event at the Ateneo de Manila University.The priest said the annual gathering is in only on its second year but "hopefully, every year it gets bigger and bigger."Father Atilano said this year's event attracted hundreds of young people, the so-called millennials, from various youth groups in the Philippine capital, including priests, seminarians, and even religious sisters."Apart from bringing more and more Catholic communities together, we have observed that Filipino composers are beginning to explore the modern sound of praise. This initiative is ou...
The Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal has called on all Catholics in the Himalayan nation to pray for peace and for the rights of minorities. Church leaders made the appeal on April 25, following an April 18 arson attack on a vehicle parked near Kathmandu’s Assumption Cathedral that damaged the parish residence. The Vicariate "decided to hold an hour of prayer in all of the country’s churches,” said Chirendra Satyal, spokesman for the local Catholic Church. "Hundreds of people joined in the prayer for peace and for Christians,” said Satyal Chirendra. “Hundreds of non-Catholics came to the mass and condemned the violence and attacks against minorities." He added that many young people wore T-shirts that read “We would like to see Jesus "Police have launched an investigation into last week’s attack but has not made any arrest so far. The incident is the second attack against Nepal’s main Catholic ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received participants in the Congress of the Interntaional Forum- Catholic Action on Thursday morning in the Synod Hall at the Vatican.The Congress is focused on the theme: “Catholic Action in Mission with All and for Everyone”, and is marking the 150th anniversary of the organization’s founding.The charism of Catholic Action is one of lay-led missionary discipleship: faithful to the Pope, rooted in the local Church, and active in service especially and particularly at the parish level.Listen to our report In his remarks to the participants, Pope Francis focused on renewing the mission of Catholic Action by recovering the original sense of the apostolate and applying that sense of self-understanding to the concrete conditions encountered in contemporary life.Delivered in his native Spanish, and based on bullet-points, Pope Francis encouraged the participants to foster renewal by becoming prayerfully active, outgoing, docile to the Spi...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday reflected on the fact that being Christian is not a social status.Speaking during the homily at the Mass in the Casa Santa Marta the Pope said Christians must be witnesses of obedience to God, like Jesus was.Recalling the reading of the day Pope Francis quoted Peter’s words before the Sanhedrin when he said “You must obey God rather than men." Peter and the Apostles had been freed from prison by an Angel, and forbidden to teach in Jesus’s name And yet the high priest said “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us”.In order to better understand this event the Pope also referred to the Book of Acts regarding the early months of the Church which describes a growing Christian community and many miracles. There was the faith of the people, he said, but there were also “wily” people trying to take advantage of the situation...
Stockholm, Sweden, Apr 27, 2017 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new Swedish study has shown that women who are taking the contraceptive pill might be putting themselves at risk for decreasing their overall health and well-being. Mood swings, energy level shifts, and a “significantly lower” quality of life were the reported side effects of the contraceptive pill when the three-month study had concluded. “Despite the fact that an estimated 100 million women around the world use contraceptive pills we know surprisingly little today about the pill's effect on women's health,” said Professor Angelica Linden Hirschberg, one of the study’s leaders, according to the Karolinska Institute. “The scientific base is very limited as regards the contraceptive pill’s effect on quality of life and depression and there is a great need for randomized studies where it is compared to placebos,” Dr. Hirschberg continued. The...
