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Polish Bishops Defend Doctors’ Right to Conscientious Objection

August 13, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Polish Bishops Defend Doctors’ Right to Conscientious Objection

Express Concern Over “Verbal Aggression” Against Pro-Life Medical Staff Warsaw, August 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) Polish bishops have responded after strong opposition to staff in the medical profession who have signed a pro-life Declaration of Faith. The declaration recognizes “the primacy of God’s laws over human laws” in medicine and signatories have pledged not to play a part in abortion, birth control, in-vitro fertilisation or euthanasia. The declaration was created out of gratitude for the canonisation of Pope St. John Paul II. The initiative came from physician and personal friend of John Paul, Wanda Półtawska. In a statement, the Polish bishops remind those opposed to the declaration that refusing a right to conscientious objection undermines basic civilian freedoms. “We cannot forget that restricting a possibility…Continue Reading

Pope to Italian Youth Organization: ‘Make the World a Better Place’

August 12, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Pope to Italian Youth Organization: ‘Make the World a Better Place’

Says World Needs Young People Who Are Courageous, Not Fearful Vatican City, August 11, 2014 (Zenit.org) Staff Reporter | 370 hits Pope Francis has said young people must be courageous and never timid in order to make the world a better place. The Holy Father made these remarks when he telephoned 30,000 guides and scouts of the AGESCI organization gathered in St. Flushing, Pisa, Saturday morning, for the conclusion of its Third National Route, with the theme: “The Road of Courage … Going Toward the Future.” With more than 177,000 members, the Association of Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts (AGESCI) is a youth organization that aims to contribute to the educational, leisure and extra-curricular activities, training each person according to the principles and method of…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: You Cannot Make War in the Name of God!

August 11, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: You Cannot Make War in the Name of God!

Pontiff Appeals for Peace in Iraq, Gaza During Sunday Angelus Vatican City, August 10, 2014 (Zenit.org) Junno Arocho Esteves Pope Francis made an appeal for peace in Iraq and Gaza before concluding his Sunday Angelus address. Throughout the weekend, the Holy Father has sent several tweets from his @Pontifex account, calling on the faithful to pray for those affected by the violence. “The news coming from Iraq leaves us in disbelief and dismay: thousands of people, including many Christians, brutally driven from their homes; children dead from thirst and hunger during the escape; women who are abducted; people slaughtered; violence of every kind; destruction everywhere, destruction of homes, destruction of religious, historical and cultural patrimonies,” he said. “All this greatly offends God and…Continue Reading

Cardinal Filoni to Represent Pope in Iraq Crisis

August 10, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Cardinal Filoni to Represent Pope in Iraq Crisis

Francis Names Special Envoy to Assure Suffering Minorities of Church’s Solidarity Vatican City, August 08, 2014 (Zenit.org) Deborah Castellano Lubov With the escalating crisis in Iraq, Pope Francis has decided to name a personal envoy to assure Christians and other minorities suffering at the hands of Islamic militants of his spiritual closeness and the Church’s solidarity. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, announced briefly this afternoon that Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will represent the Holy Father to Iraq. The situation facing Christians in Iraq has gotten increasingly worse, following the expansion of the forces of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) to the plain of Nineveh.  In July, an…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Appeal For Iraqi Christians

August 9, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Appeal For Iraqi Christians

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, has issued a statement communicating the Holy Father’s prayerful concern over the violence raging in Iraq, and especially for the Christians affected by the violence. In the statement, Fr. Lombardi says, “The Holy Father is following with deep concern the dramatic news reports coming from northern Iraq, which involve defenseless populations. Christian communities are particularly affected: a people fleeing from their villages because of the violence that rages in these days, wreaking havoc on the entire region.” The statement goes on to say, “The Holy Father renews his spiritual closeness to all those who are suffering through this painful trial, and makes the impassioned…Continue Reading

Statement on Iraq Made by Vatican Press Office Director on Behalf of Pope Francis

August 8, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Statement on Iraq Made by Vatican Press Office Director on Behalf of Pope Francis

“The Pope appeals to the conscience of all, and, to every believer, he repeats: ‘May the God of peace arouse in all a genuine desire for dialogue and reconciliation. Violence is not defeated by violence. Violence is defeated with peace!”” Vatican City, August 07, 2014 (Zenit.org) At the conclusion of today’s press conference on the Pope’s apostolic trip to South Korea next week, Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, gave the following statement on Iraq, on behalf of Pope Francis: The Holy Father follows with heartfelt concern the tragic news coming from the north of Iraq, which affects defenseless populations. Particularly hit are the Christian communities: a people fleeing from their villages because of the violence that these days…Continue Reading

General Audience: Pope prays for China earthquake victims and Middle East peace

August 7, 2014 breaking Comments Off on General Audience: Pope prays for China earthquake victims and Middle East peace

2014-08-06 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) In the first General Audience since his summer break Pope Francis resumed his Catechesis on the Church and the People of God, but his mind was also on the tensions and recent conflict in the Middle East and an earthquake in China which last Sunday left hundreds dead and over two thousand injured. Expressing his closeness to the people of the province of Yunnan, the Holy Father offered his prayers for the victims and their families, for those injured and those who lost homes in the disaster. Earlier greeting pilgrims from the Middle East he asked those present to “pray hard for peace” in the region”. He made the plea in the Paul the VI…Continue Reading

Pope Resumes Catechesis At General Audience

August 6, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Pope Resumes Catechesis At General Audience

2014-08-06 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his General Audience this Wednesday in the Paul VI hall where he was joined by thousands of faithful. Below are the Pope’s remarks read aloud in English Dear Brothers and Sisters:  In today’s Audience we resume our catechesis on the Church, the People of God.  Prepared for in the Old Testament and established by Christ in the fullness of time, the Church is a new people, founded on a new covenant.  The newness brought by Christ does not set aside what went before, but brings it to completion.  In the Scriptures, Saint John the Baptist is a bridge between the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament and their fulfilment in the…Continue Reading

Archbishop of Jos Speaks of Boko Haram, Living With Fear and Faith in Nigeria

August 5, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Archbishop of Jos Speaks of Boko Haram, Living With Fear and Faith in Nigeria

Explains ‘Dialogue of Life’ With Muslims New York, August 04, 2014 (Zenit.org) Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Nigerian bishops’ conference, recently spent a few days in New York—a brief respite from his increasingly violence-ridden country, where the jihadists of Boko Haram continue to kill indiscriminately, Muslims and Christians alike. Within the span of a week in late July, the group set off two bombs that killed 100; an assault on a Catholic church in the city of Kano left five dead; and, in a highly disturbing development, young girls as young as 10 are becoming suicide bombers. Meanwhile, July 30 marked the 100th day since Boko Haram’s kidnapping of nearly 300 young girls, most of them Christians. The archbishop…Continue Reading

Pope At Angelus: Compassion, Generosity, Gratitude

August 4, 2014 breaking Comments Off on Pope At Angelus: Compassion, Generosity, Gratitude

2014-08-03 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered beneath a dreary, drizzly early August sky in St. Peter’s Square this Sunday, the eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, on which the account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes from the Gospel according to St. Matthew (14:13-21) is proclaimed. It was on the Lord Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the five thousand that the Holy Father focused his remarks ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion at midday. Pope Francis chose three specific lessons from the episode: compassion; sharing; thanksgiving – a foreshadowing of the great Sacrament of Thanksgiving, the Eucharist. “Christ” said Pope Francis, “does not react with irritation to the crowd that followed him…Continue Reading