Responding to efforts in some parts of the Catholic world to devise “blessings” of same-sex unions by the Church, the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog released a statement Monday saying that such blessings are “not legitimate,” as homosexual unions are “not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”
Ten years after Syria’s bloody civil war began, most of the fighting is now over. Yet the country is now facing a massive economic, social, and humanitarian crisis in which rampant poverty is the next major battle it faces.
The joy of the Gospel has been an integral part of the Filipino identity since the arrival of Christianity in the Southeast Asian country five centuries ago, Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis officially announced Ireland’s Knock Shrine as an international Marian and Eucharistic shrine on the feast of St. Joseph on March 19.
Internally, his to-do list features a long-simmering reform of the Roman Curia, a sweeping clean-up in money management, the fight against clerical sexual abuse, empowerment of women and laity, a more collaborative (“synodal,” to use his word) mode of decision-making, and more.
Comboni Sister Alicia Vacas Moro, a Spanish missionary sister and registered nurse, was one of 14 women to receive this year’s International Women of Courage Award, an annual honor from the U.S. Department of State for women who have demonstrated leadership in their human rights work.
Pope Francis’s recent trip to Iraq will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the country in ways that only time will tell. However, in the immediate aftermath, significant developments are already being seen.
Pope Francis walks alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at Baghdad International Airport on Friday.
It has been six months since Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned the UNESCO world heritage site Hagia Sophia (the cathedral built by Emperor Justinian I in 532) into a mosque and four months since he made a similar conversion of the historic Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora.
On March 7, Pope Francis concluded a three-day whirlwind tour of Iraq that took him to six cities, saw him deliver seven speeches, and marked several historic firsts.
