VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis opened the first working session of an extraordinary Synod of Bishops Oct. 6, urging participants to speak fearlessly and listen humbly during two weeks of discussion of the “pastoral challenges of the family.”
International News
Vatican Media Aims to Spread the Word
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A new papal commission is looking at how Vatican media outlets can better communicate the Church’s message “of healing, of love, of hope, and of generosity of spirit,” said the panel’s leader.
Pax Christi: Bombing ISIS Only Encourages Recruits
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Expanded airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria serve as little more than a recruiting tool for the extremist group and place more innocent people in danger, the leadership of Pax Christi International said.
Q&A About Upcoming Synod of World Bishops
Here are some frequently asked questions about the extraordinary synod of bishops and the answers: Q. When and where is it? A. Oct. 5-19, 2014, Vatican City Q. What is this? A. The synod is a meeting of Pope Francis, bishops, clergy and laypeople. Q. What is its purpose? A. Pope Francis has written […]
Pope Warns About ‘Hidden Euthanasia’ of the Elderly
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis warned against the abandonment and neglect of the elderly, calling it a “hidden euthanasia” rooted in today’s “poisonous” culture of disposal and an economic system of greed.
NET to Air Live Coverage Of Beatification in Newark
New Evangelization Television (NET-TV) will broadcast live the Beatification of the Venerable Miriam Teresa Demjanovich from the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Newark, N.J., on Saturday, Oct. 4, beginning at 9:30 a.m. “This is the first beatification to take place in the United States, ever,” said Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark. “In […]
Vatican Says Climate Control Is a ‘Shared Responsibility’
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) – A sense of “shared responsibility to protect our planet and the human family” must influence how nations react to the reality of climate change, the Vatican’s secretary of state told the U.N. Sept. 23.
Vatican: All Nations Must Fight Terrorism
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) – Addressing the U.N. Security Council Sept. 24, the Vatican’s secretary of state said “terrorism represents a fundamental threat to our common humanity” and its escalation requires the response of a “shared commitment” from all nations.
Pope: Stop Talking, Do Something
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – With so much spiritual, social and moral suffering in the world, the Church has “no right” to stay locked up in an ivory tower, engaging in “byzantine” philosophical reflection, Pope Francis told members of the Focolare movement.
Egyptian Patriarch Visits B’klyn Flock
On his first trip to the U.S. as the head of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt, Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak paid a pastoral visit to his Brooklyn flock at Resurrection Coptic Church in Park Slope Sept. 28. “Egypt is going out of this dark tunnel,” he said. “It needs time. We are trying.”