Sister Helen Prejean has some advice for Pope Francis, who, six years into his papacy, still encounters resistance to his efforts to shake up the Catholic Church: “Be patient – it takes time!”
International News
‘Pope of the Peripheries’ Comes Alive in Ex-Garbage Dump Where the Poor Find Dignity
A young Madagascar girl sat nervously on the side of a humble stage, sporting a white dress, light pink sweater and green sandals – a colorful, seemingly new ensemble perhaps bought with considerable sacrifice by her parents for the occasion.
Bahamian Catholic School Administrator Describes Current Desperation
Sept. 2 was to have been the first day of school at St. Francis de Sales with an estimated 340 children enrolled, but now the school is in ruins and families had been evacuated after Dorian
Solidarity, Not Poverty, is God’s Plan, Pope Says in Madagascar
Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina, a Catholic, and his wife, Mialy, sat near the front of the crowd as Pope Francis preached about the Gospel call to solidarity and the joy that comes from putting faith before power or possessions.
Pope shares stage with fellow Argentine who insists ‘poverty is not fate’
The great majority of those who packed the small sports stadium Sunday were children who live in the 5,000 homes built by Opeka and his foundation. Some 15,000 children a year receive a free education that runs from kindergarten to university. The kids waited for hours for Francis to arrive, singing songs and cheering whenever Opeka spoke to them in Malagasi, the local language.
In Africa, Pope tells nuns to beware of “educated devils”
“Maybe the day you entered the convent, the devil remained sad at the door,” the pope said to the cloistered nuns disregarding his prepared text.
Pope Brings Hope to Madagascar, Where 90 Percent Live Below the Poverty Line
On Friday, Pope Francis was due to touch down in Madagascar, the second leg of his three-nation African trip.
‘You Have to Have Faith,’ Bahamian Resident Says of Dorian Recovery
Cathy Nottage, a resident of Elbow Cay – an 8-mile-long stretch in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas – has had to take a lot of things by faith in the days since Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas and left much of the islands in rubble or underwater.
Pope Urges War-Torn Mozambique to Cultivate ‘Delicate Flower’ of Peace
On his first full day in Mozambique, a country torn apart by a civil war from 1977 to 1992 and still struggling with violence, Pope Francis said lasting peace is not the mere absence of armed conflict but a tireless commitment to secure equal opportunities for all, because if some “are left on the fringes,” aggression will eventually explode.
Euthanasia is Not an Expression of Personal Freedom, Pope Says
Medical advancements do not help if they treat people as objects or when they are applied only to those people who are not considered a burden and “deserve” to be helped, Pope Francis said.