Vatican City: Pope Francis urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to do everything possible to end the war in his country, to protect civilians and to ensure humanitarian agencies can deliver emergency aid to the people. Syria’s SANA news agency reported Assad met Dec. 12 with new Cardinal Mario Zenari, theContinue Reading
The Pope opened this year’s Christmas Nativity scene in St. Peter’s SquareContinue Reading
For the past three years, Pope Francis has handpicked a Christmas card to celebrate advent and the birth of Jesus Christ, and this year’s choice features two baby Jesuses. The Pope picked Giotto di Bondone’s 14th Century fresco of the Nativity in Assisi accompanied by a verse from the bookContinue Reading
Vatican : Pope Francis on Thursday offered his prayers for the victims and families of the earthquake which hit Indonesia on Wednesday. The 6.5 magnitude quake mostly affected the Aceh Province on the island of Sumatra, and over 100 people were killed in the disaster. “I wish to assure youContinue Reading
Vatican: Pope Francis on Thursday offered his prayers for the victims and families of the earthquake which hit Indonesia on Wednesday. The 6.5 magnitude quake mostly affected the Aceh Province on the island of Sumatra, and over 100 people were killed in the disaster. “I wish to assure you ofContinue Reading
Vatican City: For Pope Francis, one of most needed virtues of modern time is hope, which is something he said must never be abandoned no matter how hard life gets, and which is often expressed in the simple act of a smile. Referring to the “dramatic moment” of Israel’s exileContinue Reading
The head of the Pope’s doctrine division has called for divisions over the treatment of divorced and remarried Catholics to end. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has indicated that the Vatican will not be responding to a letter from the four cardinalsContinue Reading
Vatican City: “Dear Paolina, your photos are on my desk, because in your very special gaze I see the light of goodness and innocence. Thank you for sending them to me!” the Pope said at the beginning of his letter. He instructed the girl to “read this letter together withContinue Reading
Vatican City: An American missionary priest killed in Guatemala in 1981 has moved a step closer to being named a Catholic saint after Pope Francis declared him the first-ever American martyr. The Rev. Stanley Rother, a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, served for nearly 15 years in GuatemalaContinue Reading
Rome: A special Vatican screening of “Silence,” the veteran U.S. director Martin Scorsese’s new film about the persecution of Christians in 17th-century Japan was held on Wednesday. The film portrays two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, who must contend with various forms of persecution as theyContinue Reading