Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki promises to protect Christians
Baghdad, Iraq, Dec.09, 2008 (vaticans.org) - Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki has promised his governments commitment to protect Iraq’s Christians following coordinated attacks on convents and churches on January 6th. Yesterday he met with Apostolic Nuncio, Msgr. Francis Assisi Chullikatt, and condemned th e Epiphany attacks in Mosul and Baghdad guaranteeing those responsible will be found and punished.A statement released from al-Maliki’s office underlines that the Iraqi governments desire to promote “strong and friendly links with the nation’s Christian groups” and insisting that “peaceful coexistence is possible”. The premier told the Holy See representative that “Christians and Muslims are united in the face of terrorists and outlaws” and that violence in the nation “targets all religious groups”. Al-Maliki had already promised greater ...Read More
Cardinal Jose Saraiva: Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman "imminent"
Vatican City, Dec.09,2008 (vaticans.org) - Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Cause of the Saints, has announced that the beatification of the great British convert and scholar, Cardinal John Henry Newman, is "imminent."In an interview to be published on Wednesday in the daily Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Saraiva said that among the most important personalities to be beatified "soon" is "the case of Cardinal Newman, a relevant intellectual, and an emblematic figure of conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism.""Personally, I wish his beatification to happen very soon because it would be very important at this moment for the path of ecumenical dialogue,” Cardinal Martins said. ...Read More
Pope Benedict XVI: Saint Augustine of Hippo was a bit like today's young people
Vatican City, Dec.09,2008 (vaticans.org) - Saint Augustine, a figure of "singular relevance" in the history of the Church and of Christian literature, and not only in these, was a bit like the young people of today - he had "extremely robust intelligence, but was not always a model student"'; he had widely varied experiences; he sought, at first, moral rules that were not too burdensome; he was anxious to know the Truth. Benedict XVI today illustrated the figure of the saint of Hippo to the six thousand persons present for the general audience in the Paul VI hall, and announced that he will dedicate his upcoming catecheses to this most prolific of the Fathers of the Church. The pope today said of Augustine - who was an object of special study for him as a theologian, and the subject of his thesis - that "all the road ...Read More
Dialogue between Christians and Muslims
Beirut, Lebanon, Dec.09, 2008 (vaticans.org) - The masterful lecture by the pope in Regensburg, so widely criticised by much of the Muslim (and also Western) world, is producing positive results in the very domain of dialogue with the Muslim world. Following the address in Regensburg (September 12, 2006), 38 Muslim scholars sent an initial letter in response (October 13, 2006), and a year later a second letter (signed by 138 scholars, whose number has since grown to 216) in an effort to find common ground of collaboration between Christians and Muslims.In his turn, last November 19 Benedict XVI responded to the letter of the 138, opening the way to possible collaboration in various areas. A few weeks ago (December 12, 2007), in a letter to Cardinal Bertone, Jordanian prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal agreed to lay the groundwork for collaboration: between February and ...Read More
German company's gift of solar system for Vatican
Vatican City, Dec.08, 2008 (vaticans.org) - Paul VI HallA German solar company has given Pope Benedict XVI an electricity-generating solar rooftop for the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall.Bonn-based SolarWorld is donating approximately 2,000 solar modules to be installed on the audience hall roof to provide what it claims will be “the very first solar power ever generated in the Vatican”.The solar system will produce some 315,500 kilowatt-hours of power a year, offsetting some 315 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, it said.Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere and is seen as a major cause of global warming.The company said it had read repo ...Read More
Young Priest Sacrifices his life to save a boy
New Caledonia, New Zeland, Dec.06, 2008 (vaticans.org) - A Kiwi priest has died a hero after sacrificing his life for a 7-year-old boy drowning off the coast of New Caledonia.Jeremy Gray, 29, was walking in shallow water with the boy while on a New Year's church picnic celebration, when the pair fell into a hole in a coastal reef at Yate, near Noumea.Neither of them saw the hole because the water was muddied by the recent rainy season floods. They were trapped by the swirling seas.Gray managed to push the boy out of the deep water and back into the shallows and, despite being tired from his efforts, refused to take the youngster's outstretched hand."Jeremy shouted 'go back, go back'. He knew he would pull the small boy back into the water and they would both die," said Father Bernard Girol, one of those at the picnic."He used all his energy ...Read More
Cardinal Toppo: Get together to help and reconstruct lives in Orissa
New Delhi, Dec.07, 2008 (vaticans.org) -“What’s happened in Orissa is indeed tragic! It was a pre-planned destruction. However, the Catholic community should never be provoked. We need to put our act together and collectively help the victims to reconstruct their lives,” declared Cardinal Toppo on his return from a visit to Orissa.Visibly moved by what he personally heard from the victims and eye witnesses of the “pre-planned and the systematic attacks” on Christians and their institutions in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, Cardinal Toppo was speaking to me at the CBCI Centre, New Delhi today.Cardinal Toppo, as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, visited Bhubaneshwar from Jan. 2-4, 2008. When he went to visit the victims in the affected areas, he was denied access by the state government. However, he was able to meet some of the victims at the Archbishop’s House in B ...Read More
Christmas today for 150 million Russian Orthodox Christians
Moscow, Russia, Dec.07, 2008 (vaticans.org) - Moscow Patriarch Alexy II today launched an appeal to live "a life of love, without forgetting our responsibilities toward others" and placing the family at the centre, during a television message for the Christmas observance of the Orthodox who follow the Julian calendar, like the Russians. Yesterday the head of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the vigil liturgy, according to tradition, in the cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Among those present was deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is now believed to be the future Russian president. The patriarch extended to him his wishes "that the joy of this holy feast give you strength and courage in your service for the good of our long-suffering people and Fatherland." There are about 150 million Orthodox Chr ...Read More
Pope delivers his annual address to the diplomatic corps
Vatican City, Dec.07, 2008 (vaticans.org) - This morning in the Sala Regia of the Vatican, Pope Benedict pronounced his traditional annual address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. He also received greetings from the ambassadors in a speech delivered by Giovanni Galassi, ambassador of San Marino and dean of the diplomatic corps. The Holy See currently maintains diplomatic relations with 176 States, to which must be added the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It also has relations of a special nature with the Russian Federation and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. At the beginning of his address, the Holy Father recalled how diplomatic relations were established last year with the United Arab Emirates. He also mentioned his own journeys abroad, including the visit to Brazil last May. On this subject, he expressed his hope for " ...Read More
Prayer vigil by Vietnamese Catholics for the seized Church land
Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec.06, 2008 (vaticans.org) — Hundreds of Vietnamese Catholic Christians held prayer vigils in the capital at the weekend, the latest in a series asking for the return of church land seized by the communists half a century ago.Priests and Catholic followers lit candles, placed flowers and sang at the iron fence around a property near Hanoi's central St Joseph's Cathedral after Saturday prayers and Sunday masses.They say the large French-colonial villa and the 1.1 hectares (2.7 acre) it sits on are the former office of the Vatican's delegate to Hanoi, confiscated by the state when he was expelled in the late 1950s.Hanoi authorities have kept the building intact but used it as a sometime discotheque while local officials have also us ...Read More
Cardinal Okogie:Poverty is Nigeria’s major problem
Lagos, Nigeria, Dec.06, 2007 (vaticans.org) - Anthony Cardinal Okogie, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, decried what he called ‘abject poverty’ ravaging Nigerians.“People are suffering. Nigerian masses are still wallowing in abject poverty,” Okogie noted in his New Year message to Nigerians.While urging the government to live up to its responsibility, the cleric called for the creation of more agencies in all the local government areas in the country to alleviate poverty in 2008.Okogie said the Church could also be involved in poverty alleviation programmes for the masses.The cardinal said the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Yar’Adua would go along way to relieve Nigerians and p ...Read More
Coordinated attacks against Christian Churches in Baghdad and Mosul
Baghdad,Iraq, Dec.06, 2008 (vaticans.org) – “They represent a clear message and are probably part of a coordinated plan” the attacks which took place today, the feast of the Epiphany, against numerous churches and Christian institutions in Iraq. The Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk. Loiuis Sako is convinced of this who confirmed to AsiaNews that the car bombs did not provoke any deaths, but only one injured and material damage. The targets hit in the capital are : the Chaldean Church of St George in the Ghadir quarter, where Patriarch Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly had just finished celebrating mass; a Greek- Melchite Church and a convent of Chaldean sisiters in Zaafraniya. In Mosul, the car bombs targeted the Chaldean Church of St Paul, an orphanage run by the Chaldean sisters in Alnoor and a convent of Domenican nuns in Mosul Aljadida. ...Read More
Pope at Angelus: The star of the Three Kings, an invitation to Christians to become missionaries
Vatican City, Dec.06, 2008 (vaticans.org) – The star of the Three Kings, is an invitation to all Christians to become missionaries towards all mankind, illuminating “through words and witness, the steps of their brothers”; and it is also the confirmation that each man is restless in “the search for truth”.Benedict XVI thus explains to pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s to pray the Angelus on the feast of the Epiphany , that celebration that recalls the arrival of the Three Wise Men, or Magi Bethlehem from the East to “honour the King of the Jews”. The light of the star – followed by the Magi – is a sign that “the light of Christ has begun to draw men to Him…. Of all tongues, peoples and cultures”. “It is the force of the Holy Spirit – explains the pope – which move ...Read More
January 6-12, National Migration Week observed in U.S
Washington, Dec. 06, 2008 (vaticans.org) - 'From Many, One Family of God' is the theme for this year's National Migration Week, sponsored by Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB/MRS), and to be observed January 6-12. These words are accompanied by an image from the Gospel of Mark of Jesus feeding the crowds with multiplied loaves and the fishes. The message is one of assurance of the providence of God as well as a reminder that His abundance is meant to be shared with all people. This year's celebration marks the 27th annual National Migration Week observance.Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, new chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, said that this year's theme "reminds us that though we come from many cultures and places, we are all part of one human family and members of the one Body of Christ. Sadly, rather than embracing new ...Read More
Journalists of CISA stranded in their homes
Nairobi, Kenya, Dec.06, 2008 (vaticans.org) - In a message sent by Catholic Information Service Africa (CISA) on 3rd of January 2008 to all the readers, it reports that their regular service was affected due to the dramatic events unfolding in Kenya.They are not sure of when they would be able to resume their regular service since most of the journalists of CISA are stranded in their homes due to lack of transport and security. ...Read More
Home | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | Next