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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday blessed the “Benedictine Torch of Peace,” which since 1964 – the year St. Benedict was named a patron of Europe – has been sponsored by the city of Norcia to promote unity and peace in Europe.This year, the Torch is being used to help mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which established what is now the European Union.During the General Audience, the Holy Father greeted a delegation which included the Archbishop of Spoleto-Norcia, Renato Boccardo; the Abbot of Montecassino, Father Donato Ogliari; and the the Abbot of Subiaco, Father Mauro Meacci.“I invite everyone to become a promoter of the culture of peace in every area of life,” Pope Francis said.The torch will be taken to Subiaco in the coming days before making the journey to Brussels, the capital of the European Union, on 8 March.On 19 March it will arrive in Montecassino, before ending its journey in Norcia on 25 March. At every...
The Archdiocese of Bangalore, India has launched counseling services to help save marriages by opening the counseling center on Feb 20. “We have felt the urgency of protecting the sacrament of marriage amid changing social trends that tend to endanger families,” Archbishop Bernard Moras said while opening the counseling center.The center will offer counseling services with the help of professionally trained people at the premises of Paalana Bhavan (Pastoral Center) adjacent to the archbishop’s residence in Bengaluru, capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.More than 20 professional counselors took pledge to offer their services on the occasion.Archbishop Moras said the counseling service comes as “a very quick response” to the decision of the just concluded plenary assembly of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) at Bhopal that addressed issues confronting families.Family was also the focus of the Bishops’ Syno...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday received a soccer jersey embossed with the words (in Italian) “Let’s give a kick to bullying” on the front and “Papa Francesco” on the back.He was presented with the jersey at his weekly General Audience by the project’s director, Stefano Roma, of the San Cesareo Sporting Club in Rome.The campaign aims to shine the spotlight on the phenomenon of bullying in the world of sports and teach young people about its effects.The initiative, which is supported by the Latium Region, hopes to get its message across through a series of events, in which psychologists and experts speak to young sports aficionados about bullying and how to prevent it.
(Vatican Radio) A religious sister has described how children are dying from lack of food in war-torn South Sudan where a famine has been declared.Sister Yudith Pereira Rico from the association “Solidarity with South Sudan” told Susy Hodges that many children in camps for people displaced by the civil war are visibly malnourished and that people are not able to buy food because of sky-high inflation.Her comments come after a famine was declared there earlier this week, with the UN saying that 4.9 people are in need of urgent food assistance.“Almost all of the children are skinny,” said Sister Pereira Rico. “Many of them are ill because they are not getting enough food and this is taking place all over the country.“People are very worried. We have more than 900 per cent of inflation. So people are unable to buy any food in the market. It’s not the rainy season so even the price of the food is higher. People are dying.”Her eyewitness ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held an audience on Wednesday for the Italian family members of those who died in the Dhaka massacre in Bangladesh on 1 July 2016.The terror attack in Dhaka took place on the Holey Artisan Bakery in the diplomatic district of the capital and claimed the lives of 29 people, nine of whom were Italian.Bishop Valentino di Cerbo of Alife-Caiazzo in Italy accompanied the group of around 30 people who met Pope Francis ahead of his Wednesday General Audience.Those present included family members of Marco Tondat, Christian Rossi, Maria Riboli, Vincenzo D’Allestro, Claudio Cappelli, and Simona Monti, who were killed in the terror attack.Maria Gaudio, the wife of Vincenzo D’Allestro, afterwards said: “Pope Francis thanked us for our witness of love and he said we were an example also for him.”
(Vatican Radio) The leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church has appealed to the international community to take diplomatic action and stop the continuing violence in Eastern Ukraine.This week a ceasefire between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists came into effect but the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSE) said violations to the ceasefire are already occurring. The conflict, which started in April 2014, has killed some 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. 3.8 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance. Speaking to Vatican Radio, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, said that Europe must not allow the humanitarian emergency unfolding at its heart to go unnoticed.Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: Major Archbishop Shevchuk highlighted the plight of three groups of people in particular whom, he said, the ...
(Vatican Radio) Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on Wednesday called for a more equitable global economy which can promote peace, development and human dignity for all.The cardinal was speaking on ‘Migration in an inclusive economy’ during an international forum which is taking place here in Rome, organised by the Vatican’s new office for Integral Human Development, together with the Scalabrini International Migration Network and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.The goal of the forum is to promote creative partnerships between government agencies, international organisations and civil society groups to tackle both the integration of migrants in host countries, as well as supporting sustainable development in their countries of origin.Philippa Hitchen reports: Noting that the gap between rich and poor is unacceptable in a world which has the means to provide for all people, Cardinal Parolin highlighted the links between peace, development a...
Vatican City, Feb 22, 2017 / 07:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Vatican announced plans to monitor with a more careful eye those who print official images of the Pope or the Holy See and sell them for profit, intervening with “appropriate action” when necessary.A Feb. 22 communique issued by the Secretariat of State said pointed out that among its various tasks, it also has “that of protecting the image of the Holy Father, so that his message can reach the faithful intact and that his person not be exploited.”Because of this, part of the department is dedicated to protecting “the symbols and coats of arms of the Holy See” through appropriate channels on an international level.In order to make this “protective action” more effective and to “halt situations of illegality that arise,” the department said they will begin carrying out “systematic surveillance activities apt to monitor the ways in which the image o...
By Junno Arocho EstevesVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Humanity's greed and selfishness can turn creation into a sad anddesolate world instead of the sign of God's love that it was meant to be, PopeFrancis said. Humanbeings are often tempted to view creation as "a possession we can exploitas we please and forwhich we do not have to answer to anyone," the pope said Feb. 22 at hisweekly general audience. "Whencarried away by selfishness, human beings end up ruining even the mostbeautiful things that have been entrusted to them," the pope said. As an early sign of spring, the audience was heldin St. Peter's Squarefor the first time sinceNovember. Despite the chilly morning temperatures, the pope made therounds in his popemobile, greeting pilgrims and kissing bundled-up infants. Continuinghis series of talks on Christian hope, the pope reflected on St. Paul's Letterto the Romans, which expressesthe hope "that creation itself would be set free from slavery tocorruption."St. Paul,the pope said, re...
By Junno Arocho EstevesVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis appealed for humanitarian assistance to South Sudanwhere famine threatens the lives of millions of people already suffering due toa three-year civil war.In the "martyred South Sudan," he said,"a fratricidal conflict is compounded by a serious food crisis, which hasstruck the Horn of Africa and condemnsmillions of people to starve to death, among them many children," the popesaid. At the end of his weekly general audience at the VaticanFeb. 22, the pope said that a solid commitment from the international community to assist South Sudanis crucial "now more than ever." The United Nations Feb. 21 declared afamine in two counties of South Sudan, adding that the catastrophic food shortageswill continue to spread, threatening millions of lives. Civil warhas destabilized the world's youngest country for more than three years due toa political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and formerVice-President Riek Machar. "Thisfamin...
