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(Vatican Radio) Nearly three weeks on from Pope Francis’ visit to the Republic of Georgia, the country’s ambassador to the Holy See says the trip marked an important step on the path towards closer Western integration.In an interview looking back at the fruits of the papal visit, Ambassador Tamara Grdzelidze also underlines the significant economic growth her country has seen since the end of the Soviet regime 25 years ago.Listen: Ambassador Tamara says the visit of Pope Francis was one of the “brightest moments in our recent history”, adding that the Pope was very well received by the Georgian people.She recalls that Catholics make up just 1% in a population of only 3.7 million people, most of whom belong to the Orthodox Church.The ambassador also notes that the former Soviet republic is “clearly looking to Europe, to the west and wants to be a part of those western values and western principles that countries in Europe and North America have&r...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a telegram on Thursday to the Archbishop of Bari, Francesco Cacucci, where a conference organized in the Italian port city of Bari on the lives of women in the Middle East and the Mediterranean is taking place.Signed by the Cardinal-Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, the message says, “[The Holy Father] hopes that the spaces of representation of women will broaden and that they might intensify their work in seeking opportunities for interaction, knowledge and dialogue, and that the shared commitment to building a future of prosperity and peace, might produce abundant fruits of human and social growth and encourages reconciliation among men and renewed harmony among nations.”The second of its kind with women of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, the conference is focusing on the theme, on the theme: Women for Peace – being workers for a culture of encounter and dialogue. The event is being promoted by the International ...
(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences is hosting a two-day event, to explore ways and means to help people on the margins of society, while recognizing their dignity and making them genuine partners in pursuit of the common good. Inclusive Solidarity and Integration of Marginalized People is the theme of the workshop on the 28th-29th October, 2016. Read more below********************************************Inclusive Solidarity and Integration of Marginalized PeopleWorkshop 28-29 October 2016The squalor that comes from many tragic events and cases of destitution leads us to consider carefully the notion of “social inclusion” and to identify it with the litmus test of the seriousness of our declarations. To include means sharing, participating, moving from being a stranger and misfit to be an integrated and active person, from a subject to a sovereign citizen. Above all, inclusion means, today, to consider that in the last decades there has been...
Caritas Philippines, the social action arm of the Catholic Church, is looking into the extent of the damage brought about by Super Typhoon Haima, which continues to batter parts of the country on Oct. 20."We are trying to determine where help is most needed and what type of relief are we going to give to affected communities," said Father Edwin Gariguez, head of Caritas Philippines.The priest said the church's social action teams were already deployed to areas hit by the typhoon. "We are using drones to see the whole area," he told ucanews.com.Father Gariguez appealed to the public to continue sending in donations especially in areas most affected by the super typhoon."We need medicines, food, clothing, equipment, and even prayers," said the priest. "We need all those," he said.The social action arm of the country's Catholic bishops has earlier "prepositioned" relief goods in areas where Super Typhoon Haima was expected to ...
(Vatican Radio) Based in Aleppo, Syrian Jesuit priest, Father Ziad Hilal speaks about the catastrophic situation in the fiercely-contested city and appeals to the international community to “stop giving weapons” to the Syrian combatants. Father Hilal has been helping the children in war-torn Syria since the beginning of the conflict, first in Homs and currently in Aleppo. He was one of the main promoters of an initiative this month that saw more than a million children worldwide and thousands in Syria itself, draw or sign petitions asking for peace and an end to the Syrian conflict. They included both Christian and Muslim children from across Syria. Father Hilal was interviewed by Father Leszek Gesiak, head of Vatican Radio’s Polish Service.Listen to the interview with Father Ziad Hilal from Aleppo: Father Hilal spoke about the privations of daily life in Aleppo under the shelling and bombing with the frequent interruptions to electricity and t...
Washington D.C., Oct 20, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA).- A reputed “Catholic Spring” group played a key role in influencing Barack Obama’s controversial 2009 Notre Dame speech, and its campaigns “broadened the agenda” of Catholic voters to see abortion as just one of several election issues.This is according to a leaked memo attributed to George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.The group, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, was founded in 2005. While early backing from billionaire financier George Soros’ philanthropic network was previously reported, a 2009 memo leaked earlier this year seems to provide the foundations’ view of the group’s early activities.“CACG has helped to transform Catholic values in the mainstream media and in the public discourse on religion and politics, thereby thwarting previously successful attempts by the conservative movement to use religious faith for partisan advantage,” said the memo.The ...
IMAGE: CNS/ReutersBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' recent insistence on"walking ecumenism," the notion that Christians will draw closer toeach other as they work together to help the poor, should resonate well withLutherans and Catholics in Sweden."Swedes are known to be people of consensus, pragmatic,so people try to cooperate even if they have different views andbackgrounds," said BishopAnders Arborelius of Stockholm,the country's only Catholic bishop and the first native Swede to hold the postsince the Protestant Reformation.More than 60 percent of Swedes are baptized members of theLutheran Church of Sweden and just over 1 percent are registered members of theCatholic Church, although Bishop Arborelius said that with the ever-increasingnumber of immigrants in the country, the number of Catholics probably is doublethe official 115,000.Still, Sweden has become almost famous for being one of themost secular countries in Europe. In surveys, less than a third of Swe...
By Alastair WanklynTOKYO (CNS) -- Heavy damage wasreported to homes and farm land in the northern Philippines Oct. 20 after thestrongest storm in three years struck overnight.Typhoon Haima barreled intonorthern Cagayan and Isabella provinces, ripping the roofs off homes andflattening crops. Nearly every building in thecity of Tuguegarao was damaged, Philippine media quoted officials as saying. Thecity's communication links were down, and phone calls to the archdiocesanoffice in Tuguegarao did not connect.Across the district, many roadswere flooded or blocked by fallen trees. Aid groups said the disruption made itdifficult to assess the extent of damage, with one aid official calling it"a communications black hole."Thousands of people inneighboring Isabella province spent the night sheltering in public evacuationcenters such as schools and churches."Most of the time, thechurches serve as evacuation centers if the government evacuation centerscannot accommodate some of the people," Ap...
JERICHO, West Bank (AP) -- Archaeologists have removed the protective cover from one of the Middle East's largest carpet mosaics - but only for a day....
MOSCOW (AP) -- The Russian military has conducted drills involving state-of-the art missiles near the nation's western border, amid tensions in relations with the West....
