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(Vatican Radio) People around the world can now connect directly with the Peter’s Pence Office on Twitter (@Obolus_EN) and Instagram. The Office collects donations offered by the faithful as signs of their sharing in the Pope's concerns for the many different needs of the Universal Church.Following the successful launch of a website in November 2016, the charitable Office’s goal of communicating directly, accurately and transparently with Catholics around the world and with all people who want to help the most needy has led to the launch of new accounts in English, Italian and Spanish.Pope Francis’ messages, which can already be found on the Peter’s Pence website, are being posted on Twitter and Instagram on a daily basis, along with photos, reflections and more information about the charitable works of the Holy See. The Office has committed to sustaining projects of all sizes around the world, including the creation of a paediatric hospital in Bangui i...
42 Christians accused of murder were guaranteed their acquittal by a Lahore public prosecutor, if they renounce Christianity and convert to Islam, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.The 42 people, belonging to Pakistan's minority Christian community, have been charged with lynching two men after March 2015's suicide blasts that targeted Sunday Mass in two churches in Youhanabad in Lahore. Many in Youhanabad's mostly Christian community believed the two men were involved in the planning of the bombings.The trial is being conducted in an anti-terrorism court. Joseph Franci, a rights activist who's legally assisting the accused, said that Deputy District Public Prosecutor Syed Anees Shah was the one who made the accused the acquittal offer. "He asks them if they embrace Islam, he can guarantee them their acquittal in this case," Franci said.Franci reportedly told the newspaper that the accused were dumbfounded. One of them even spoke out,...
Washington D.C., Mar 30, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In recent months, national debates over immigration and deportation have reached a fever pitch in the wake of President Trump's election.But for Archbishop Jose Gomez, both Catholic principles and the history of America as a home to people from a variety of backgrounds means that the immigration debate has higher stakes than just law enforcement or national sovereignty.“For me, and for the Catholic Church in this country, immigration is about people. It is about families,” the archbishop said in a March 23 talk at the Catholic University of America.“We are talking about souls, not statistics.”Born in Monterrey, Mexico, the archbishop explained that he too was an immigrant, even though he has been an American citizen for more than 20 years. He pointed out that his family has been living in what is now Texas since the early 19th Century, and his family's relationship to both America and immigrat...
Vatican City, Mar 30, 2017 / 05:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis issued a message ahead of the 2018 World Meeting of Families (WMOF), saying couples and families should root their relationships in the love of God, which then propels them to joyfully share it with others.“I wish to underline how important it is for families to ask themselves often if they live based on love, for love and in love,” the Pope said in his message.In practice, “this means giving oneself, forgiving, not losing patience, anticipating the other, respecting,” as well as living and repeating daily the phrases “please,” “thank you” and “I’m sorry.”Because of the daily experience we have of weakness and fragility, both families and pastors need a “renewed humility” that will allow them to learn and educate, to help, accompany, discern and educate people from all backgrounds and situations.“I dream of an outbound Church, not a...
Madrid, Spain, Mar 30, 2017 / 05:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A pregnant woman who found her faith in a Spanish prison, refused to give up the name of her Christian catechist to her persecutors, and died for lack of medical care was beatified on Saturday.“Emilia is a martyr of suffering, because she died some 10 days after giving birth for lack of medical attention, clutching her rosary. She had a chance to apostatize, to betray the one who taught her the faith, but she did not. She’s an example,” Historian Martin Ibarra told CNA. On March 25, Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect for the Causes of Saints, beatified Emilia Fernandez and 114 other martyrs of religious persecution during the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936-1939.Emilia became the first Romani – or Gypsy – woman to be beatified by the Catholic Church.“Emilia's life up to 24 years of age was normal for an Andalusian Gypsy woman at the beginning of the century,” Ibarra sai...
LONDON (AP) -- Britain's chief negotiator in the country's divorce from the European Union on Thursday rejected suggestions the U.K. has threatened to end security cooperation unless it gets a good trade deal, as the U.K. announced plans for the huge task of replacing thousands of EU laws and regulations with domestic law....
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysian police on Thursday stopped guarding the morgue that has held the body of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's murdered half brother, after a van departed amid reports that his remains would leave the country....
CONCAN, Texas (AP) -- Federal investigators will get their first look Thursday at the scene of a head-on collision between a pickup truck and small church bus in southwest Texas that crumpled the front of the bus and killed 13 senior adults returning from a church retreat....
The Vatican has sent a message to Jains across the world wishing them on their most important festival and urging their collaboration to "foster non-violence in families to nurture peace in society.”The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue offered its "warmest felicitations" on the occasion of the 2,615th birth anniversary of Tirthankar Vardhaman Mahavir, who gave Jainism its present-day form. “May this festive event bring happiness and peace in your hearts, families and communities!” read the message signed by Council president, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and secretary, Bishop Muguel Angel Ayuso Guixot.The annual festival called Mahavir Jayanti, is the biggest in their calendar, and falls on April 9 this year. Mahavir is the 24th and last tirthankara (teacher) of the Jain religion, whose core tenet is non-violence and respect towards all living beings. Jainism, born as a non-Brahminical religious movement ...
Longford, Ireland, Mar 30, 2017 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In one Irish diocese, the number of active priests may halve in fewer than 15 years. As a result, Bishop Francis Duffy of Ardagh and Clonmacnois has aimed to prepare his flock to take on more active roles.“This ongoing development will impact every parish in the diocese and will bring about considerable change in how the parishes are organized and also in the way the Good News of Jesus Christ is passed on to succeeding generation,” he said in a new pastoral letter. “Critically, there will also be an impact on the workload of priests and their welfare is our concern in this changing context.”Bishop Duffy’s March 24 pastoral letter focused on sustaining the Catholic faith community in the diocese.“Many of you will fondly remember when there were two or three priests working in your parish and where now there is only one. Three of our parishes do not have a resident priest,” he said. ...
