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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis addressed Heads of State and Heads of Government of European Union countries on Friday afternoon, the eve of the 60° anniversary of the signing of the treaties creating the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community – the first major structural steps toward creating the European Union.Below, please find the full text of the Holy Father’s prepared remarks, in their official English translation**********************************************Address of His Holiness Pope Francisto European Heads of State and Government24 March 2017Distinguished Guests,I thank you for your presence here tonight, on the eve of the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaties instituting the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. I convey to each of you the affection of the Holy See for your respective countries and for Europe itself, to whose future it is, in God’s providence, inseparab...
(Vatican Radio) In his address to European leaders, Pope Francis spoke about embracing the past, but also looking to the future with hope.Referring to the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties – the occasion for the meeting – Pope Francis said “Returning to Rome, sixty years later, must not simply be a remembrance of things past, but the expression of a desire to relive that event in order to appreciate its significance for the present.” He said, “We cannot understand our own times apart from the past, seen not as an assemblage of distant facts, but as the lymph that gives life to the present.”Calling attention to the founding fathers of the European project, whom he quoted repeatedly, the Pope said Europe is not “a conglomeration of rules to obey” but “a way of life, a way of understanding man based on his transcendent and inalienable dignity.” And so, he said, it was clear from the outset “that the heart of the Eu...
Washington D.C., Mar 24, 2017 / 12:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch received a strong voice of support Thursday from a lawyer at a major religious liberty firm, who said that he shows a record of consensus building and protecting religious freedom for all.In addition to ruling on some high profile cases, Gorsuch also defended the religious freedom of religious minorities and prisoners, “some of the most politically powerless in our society,” said Hannah Smith, senior counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.Smith testified about Gorsuch before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Gorsuch sits on the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was nominated by President Donald Trump in February to be an associate justice at the U.S. Supreme Court.In her testimony, Smith pointed to Gorsuch’s ruling in favor of a Native American inmate’s request to have access to a sweat house at his prison, for religious use.Gorsuch wrote in t...
Vatican City, Mar 24, 2017 / 01:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Being disconnected from the values of the past – which upheld the human person and the family – has placed us in a new era of crises, Pope Francis told European leaders. However, he noted, there is hope.“Europe finds new hope when man is the center and the heart of her institutions,” he said March 24. “I am convinced that this entails an attentive and trust-filled readiness to hear the expectations voiced by individuals, society and the peoples who make up the Union.” “Affirming the centrality of man also means recovering the spirit of family,” he continued, “whereby each contributes freely to the common home in accordance with his or her own abilities and gifts.”Europe finds this new hope, he emphasized, “When she invests in the family, which is the first and fundamental cell of society. When she respects the consciences and the ideals of her citizens. When...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the Vatican Secretariat forCommunication works to unify Vatican media efforts, a key pastoral concern isto keep open all the channels that allow Pope Francis to speak to the world."With a pope who is so naturally communicative, if wedon't put obstacles in his way, we already are doing our job," said NatasaGovekar, director of the secretariat's theological-pastoral department.While every large organization and government has acommunications apparatus, the Vatican may be unique in having a department likeGovekar's. Her office focuses on the theological and pastoral implications ofcommunications in general, as well as in the faith content of what the Vaticancommunicates.The number of page views, clicks, followers and"likes" on Vatican websites and social media accounts is, of course,tracked by the Secretariat for Communication, but those statistics are not thekey factor in determining success, she said. The secretariat fulf...
IMAGE: CNS/Paul HaringBy Carol GlatzROME (CNS) -- There is absolutely no excuse for notimplementing concrete measures to protect minors and vulnerable adults fromsexual abuse, said Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston."Let there be no doubt about it: Pope Francis isthoroughly committed to rooting out the scourge of sex abuse in thechurch," he said, and "effectively making our church safe for allpeople demands our collaboration on all levels."The cardinal gave the opening prayer and address at adaylong seminar March 23 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University. The seminarwas sponsored by the papal advisory body Cardinal O'Malley heads, thePontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. A representative of every office of the Roman Curiaattended, including: Cardinals Pietro Parolin, secretary of state; KevinFarrell of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life; Joao Braz de Aviz of theCongregation for Institutes for Consecrated Life and Societies of ApostolicLife; Marc Ouellet of t...
IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via EPABy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Europe must recover the memories and lessons of past tragedies in order to confrontthe challenges Europeansface today that seek to divide rather than unite humanity, Pope Francis said. Whilethe founding fathers of what is now the European Union worked toward a"united and open Europe," free of the "walls and divisions"erected after WorldWar II, the tragedy of poverty and violence affecting millions of innocentpeople lingers on, the pope told European leaders gathered at the Vatican March 24."Wheregenerations longed to see the fall of those signs of forced hostility, thesedays we debate how to keep out the 'dangers' of our time, beginning with the long file of women,men and children fleeing war and poverty, seeking only a future for themselves andtheir loved ones," he said. PopeFrancis welcomed the 27 European heads of state to the Vatican to commemoratethe 60th anniversary of the signing of the ...
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ROME (AP) -- Posing with Pope Francis before Michelangelo's masterpiece "The Last Judgment" at the Vatican, European Union leaders started their weekend pilgrimage in Rome hoping that a visit to the cradle of their unity project could somehow rekindle the vigor of the bloc's youth....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Jewish groups had pointed to scores of bomb threats against their communities as the most dramatic example of what they considered a surge in anti-Semitism. Some blamed a far-right emboldened by President Donald Trump. Now, that picture has been complicated by the arrest of an Israeli Jewish hacker who authorities say is responsible for the harassment....
