Mother Teresa to be made Roman Catholic saint Sept. 4 – Pope

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor, will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church at a Vatican ceremony on September 4th. Pope Francis cleared the way for sainthood for her last December. Teresa’s compassion reached out to slum-dwellers, famine sufferers and AIDS victims, and won […]

Pope says it wrong to identify Islam with violence

Pope Francis said on Sunday that it was wrong to identify Islam with violence and that social injustice and idolatry of money were among the prime causes of terrorism. “I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence,” he told reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome after a five-day trip […]

Pope says Church should ask forgiveness from gays for past treatment

Pope Francis said on Sunday that Christians and the Roman Catholic Church should seek forgiveness from homosexuals for the way they had treated them. Speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome from Armenia, he also said the Church should ask forgiveness for the way it has treated women, for turning a […]

Pope Francis’s Letter to Muslims During Ramadhan

Letter from Pope Francis Conveyed through Cardinal Tauran and sent to British Muslims Message for the month of Ramadan by Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Cardinal Tauran is Pope Francis’s principal advisor in Christian Muslim relations and the theme of this letter is that of mercy. Pope Francis has declared […]

Pope hears confessions from teens in surprise visit

Pope Francis surprises youngsters and teenagers who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square to confess their sins to priests, and personally hears the confessions of 16 young girls and boys. Mana Rabiee reports. Pope Francis surprised many in St. Peter’s Square — perhaps most of all the teenagers who had come to the Vatican confess […]

Pope returns with 12 refugees after visit to Greek island

Pope Francis took three families of Syrian refugees back to Rome on Saturday after visiting the frontline of Europe’s migrant crisis at a camp in Greece where migrants wept at his feet, kissed his hand and begged for help. At a sprawling fenced complex on the Aegean island of Lesbos, adults and children broke down […]

Pope calls for compassionate Church open to ‘imperfect’ Catholics

Pope Francis on Friday called for a Church that was less strict and more compassionate towards “imperfect” Catholics, such as those who divorced and remarried, saying “no one can be condemned forever”. Francis said gays should be respected but firmly re-stated the Church’s position that there are “absolutely no grounds” to equate gay unions to […]

Pope Francis to Issue a Treatise on Marriage and the Family

Pope Francis issues one of the most eagerly awaited documents of his pontificate on Friday, a treatise on marriage and the family following  two gatherings of Catholic bishops that exposed divisions in the Church. There is keen anticipation on what the 260-page document “Amoris Laetitia,” (The Joy of Love), will say about the full re-integration […]

Pope Francis to visit Auschwitz death camp in July

Pope Francis will visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in July, as part of World Youth Day. This trip coincides with his five day trip to Poland, arriving on July 27 and departing July 31. Pope John Paul II, himself Polish, became the first pope to visit the camp. Benedict XVI visited in 2006. The US Holocaust Museum estimates that the SS had murdered at least 960,000 of the 1.1m Jews deported to the camp. Of the 23,000 Romani, the Nazis murdered 21,000. Other victims included 15,000 Poles, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war. And 10-15,000 members of other nationalities perished (including Czechs, Yugoslavs, Germans, Austrians and French). On June 7, 1979, Pope John II made a five-hour visit to the camp. He prayed before a stone crucifix in memory of the Catholic priest Maksymilian Kolbe, prisoner number 16670, who the SS murdered in 1941. Kolbe volunteered to die, so Franciszek Gajowniczek, a father of five might live. Gajowniczek, the Polish army sargeant had been chosen to die in an Auschwitz dungeon called the “hunger bunker,” after a prisoner had escaped. Kolbe pleaded, ‘I want to take the place of this man. He has a wife and a family. I have no one. [...]

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Pope Francis lights nativity scene in support of refugees

Pope Francis lit the Christmas tree and nativity scene in Assisi. From a distance in the Vatican, he performed the ceremony online on December 7. In attendance at the lower piazza of the Basilica San Francesco were 31 refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nigeria and Syria. The other invited guest included the Naval officer who assisted in their rescue. All stood alongside local residents as the Christmas tree lit up. #Assisi,accensione delle luci del presepe: "Anche quella volta siamo arrivati in tempo per salvare una vita in mare" pic.twitter.com/uF4abIu5zc — Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 6, 2015 Papa Francesco accende le luci del presepe di #Assisi. Comandante nave #MarinaMilitare porterà la sua testimonianza pic.twitter.com/7hoMEVj0H2 — Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 6, 2015 At the foot of the tree stands a nativity scene crafted into the boat used by those who arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa from Tunisia in 2014. The Italian State Railway and Italian Navy also handed out toys to families in need. Staff at the Basilica, the Conventual Franciscan Friars, dedicated the tree and “this Christmas to immigrants“. In a translated address, according to Vatican Radio, Francis thanked the Coast Guard. He said: “I would like to thank the [...]

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