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(Vatican Radio) Bishops leading negotiations between political leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are warning that unless a crucial political agreement is signed by 28 January all efforts to achieve peace will have been in vain.The Catholic Church became a mediator between political parties after President Joseph Kabila failed to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate on 19 December after 16 years in power.A deal was signed on 31 December that aims to pave the way for the first ever peaceful transition of power in the nation.However, Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Vice President of the Catholic Church's National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), and one of the mediators who directed negotiations between the political majority and the opposition, told Fides News Agency this week that “the bad faith of the politicians is putting strain on the patience of the pastors”.Archbishop Besungu also said that the bishops are due to de...
Vatican City, Jan 25, 2017 / 02:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Knights of Malta have confirmed that Matthew Festing, the Prince and Grand Master of the Order, has agreed to submit his resignation after being asked to do so in a meeting with Pope Francis Tuesday.“The Grand Master met the Pope yesterday evening and (Francis) asked him to resign,” Eugenio Ajroldi di Robbiate, Communications Director for the Order of Malta, told CNA Jan. 25.He said the decision “wasn’t anticipated...no one knew anything,” but Festing was cooperative and agreed to submit his resignation to the government of the Order.The Grand Master’s resignation would cut short his lifetime appointment, to which he was elected in 2008.However, according to the Order’s constitutions, if a Grand Master wants to resign he must convoke the governing council, submit his resignation request to them, and they must then approve it in order for the resignation to be official.Until then, Fe...
Vatican City, Jan 25, 2017 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The theological commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved last week a miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Catalina de María Rodríguez, foundress of the Slaves of the Heart of Jesus.Following the Jan. 19 approval, the next step for her beatification is approval of the miracle by a commission of cardinals in the congregation.The miracle is the healing, 19 years ago, of a woman in Argentina's Tucuman province who had severe heart disease.In the event that the miracle is approved by the commission of cardinals, they must draw up the decree of beatification to be presented to Pope Francis.Saturnina Rodríguez de Zavalia, who took the name Catalina de María in religious life, was born in Cordoba, Argentina in 1823. Her mother died when she was three, and her father when she was nine. Thereafter she was cared for by her aunts.She did the Spiritual Exercises of St. Igna...
Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2017 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an effort to meet the Church's growth in diversity, the Catholic women's apostolate Endow has announced a new program that will cater to various demographics in the church, including Latino women and millennials.“With the advent of new technologies, rapidly changing social issues, and changing demographics in the Church, we recognize the need to remain flexible, leveraging the new tools and data available via digital to test unique approaches, while continuing to support the core audiences who have come to benefit from our ministry,” said Martha Reichert, the president of Endow, in a recent press release.Endow was founded in 2003 in a collaborative effort between lay women and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia. Now, the program is a leading women's apostolate that is present in over 130 dioceses and reaches approximately 33,000 women.Endow's goal i...
AGIOS ATHANASIOS, Greece (AP) -- As a member of a persecuted minority in Iraq, 24-year-old Shaker Mahie has seen his people massacred, raped and scattered across a new continent. Now, the Yazidi - whose faith is older than Christianity - are at the center of a new European dilemma....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is serving notice he's ready to "send in the Feds" if Chicago can't reduce its homicide figures....
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- At least eight people were dead and 14 injured Wednesday as Somali security forces ended a siege by extremist fighters who stormed a hotel in the capital, police said....
How you ever felt like you've fallen too far, that your sins are just too great to forgive? Today the Catholic Church celebrates the conversion of St. Paul. In light of all the good...
Manila, Philippines, Jan 25, 2017 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic leaders have spoken out against a drug war that has left thousands dead, and the Philippines' new president is not taking the criticism well.President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war is “not any more in accord with the legal processes, and the moral norms are being violated and so now is the time for the Church to speak up,” Jerome Secillano, public affairs chief for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, told Agence France Presse last week.He added that many priests and bishops are afraid to speak out against the killings, as well as the laity.Baclaran church put on an exhibit of poster-size pictures of Filipinos dying in pools of blood in a campaign against the killings of the war on drugs. Some churches have put up banners denouncing the extrajudicial killings.“When you speak to people on the ground, there is a lot of fear...many people, especially the urban poor, feel that a...
It was not a good night to be at the top of the AP Top 25....
